Haifuri: Gone Asiatic
by Thorthemighty321
Summary: It's the start of new school year and the former crew of the now sunk Harekaze are ready to start a new year. This time as exchange students, they are going to the United States Junior Naval Academy, Asiatic Flotilla. However a crisis will throw a wrench in the gears and turn a regular school year into one hell of a fight against an unknown enemy! Note Dark Fic
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright, something new for you guys! A Haifuri fic; I loved the anime; it has good story and great characters. Also, spoilers ahead.**

 **However this will be slightly AU as while the Blue Mermaids will be involved, the USA will also be involved. However the United States of America don't have Blue Mermaids and are the only country to not have them. However they do have a High School Fleet Program which puts you on the fast track for joining either the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard. By fast track, you skip a couple of years at the United States Navy Academy or the United States Coast Guard Academy by being in the High School Fleet Program. Think of it this way, if the Blue Mermaids are the State Troopers then the United States Navy is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the USN hands problems the Blue Mermaids can't handle or if they need aid. Because the USN also helps with disaster relief, Search and Rescue Missions, humanitarian aid. The United States Coast Guard are basically the United States Naval State Level Police, or roughly the equivalent of the Blue Mermaids for the United States.**

 **Now, the United States Coast Guard High School Fleet, it's easy to differentiate them from the regular coast guard ships; because they use World War II and Cold War Era Cutters, up to and including** _ **Hamilton**_ **-class Cutters, which are High Endurance Cutters that were replaced by the National Security Cutter aka the** _ **Legend**_ **-class. Also the Racing Stripe is different in color scheme, with the main color being Blue instead of Red, the hull and superstructure are a pristine white.**

 **If anything, it's easier to identify the United States Navy High School Fleet, because it's color scheme is so iconic and recognizable. The hulls are painted Pearl White, the superstructure, funnels, and Gun Turrets are painted gold, the tips of the funnels, the gun barrels of the main, secondary, Anti-Air guns, and torpedo launchers are painted slick black as is the hull number and the name, that's right the color scheme of the Great White Fleet. Whereas United States Navy Ships, there hulls, superstructures, and weapon emplacements are painted storm grey, the number at the bow is painted white and is outlined in black, with the name on the stern painted in the same manner. Making it pretty easy to figure out who is who.**

 **Note, the United States uses a different approach compared to everyone else, the regular Coast Guard Ships and Navy Ships have full crew sizes, and this is also true with the United States Junior Naval Academies which puts you on the fast track to joining the USN; Submarines, 'Four-stacker' type Destroyers, and Destroyer Escorts don't have any automation, thus they have full-sized crews for peacetime affairs, because it builds character. Also there are Men and Women in the USN and USCG thus the same is true with the Junior Coast Guard and Junior Navy Academies.**

 **Now this story takes place after the anime, it's the start of a new School Year and the crew of the now sunk** _ **Harekaze**_ **are ready to face it head on, they have been accused of mutiny, then cleared their names, saved dozens of people who were on a Mall Ship that had run aground, prevented a mind control virus from spreading out of control, AND stopped a complete disaster from befalling Tokyo; all in one crazy ass school year! They got a shiny new ship and are ready to start a new school year.**

 **With that all organized let's weigh anchor and set sail into the chapter.**

* * *

 _Yokosuka Marine Girls High school_

 _Two Weeks before classes start_

Principal Munetani Mayuki was couldn't believe the letter she was reading. Mainly because it was from the Headmaster of the United States Junior Naval Academy, Asiatic Flotilla. The United States Asiatic High School Fleet was a homage to the former American Asiatic Fleet that had in 1955 became part of the Pacific Fleet. The Asiatic Floatilla was were the students who didn't do that well on the entrance exams went, as a result; the Asiatic Floatilla was a true 'Melting Pot' of various cultures, ethnics, etc. Yet it was the content of the letter that had her surprised, the Headmaster of the United States Junior Naval Academy, Asiatic Flotilla was asking for an exchange between his school and her's.

He was offering the _Brooklyn_ -class Light Cruiser USS _Boise_ which was always given to the honor students. He said that he would be happy with any ship. Which gave her a dilemma, she wanted to send the _Kaga_ which was going to be the Honor Students ship this year, because the _Hiei_ was still being repaired from having run aground, doing so in an impressive manner. However, the customs and traditions of the United States High School Fleet were vastly different, so was all the slang, not to mention cursing was more prevalent. However, it would also prove to be an interesting experience because the _Wickes_ and _Clemson_ class Destroyers, the _Evarts_ , _Buckley_ , _Cannon_ , _Edsall_ , _Rudderow_ , _John C. Butler_ , _Dealey_ , _Claud Jones_ , and _Bronstein_ -class Destroyer Escorts and Frigates, and all submarine classes ranging from the _S_ -class to the _Barbell_ -class all had a full peacetime crew compliment which meant, well they had spectacular class pictures but you also formed a closer bond with everyone who you were learning with, because of the fact you had to work together to a much higher degree.

The question was, which ship should she send? Since she really didn't which ship to send. However, then came to her; she would send the _Yuubari_ -class Light Cruiser _Tokoro_ , which was going to be crewed by the former crew of the _Harekaze_. Mainly because the crew of said ship, which had been lost at the end of last year; said that they would prefer to be on nothing bigger than a Light Cruiser, even though everyone agreed that they deserved a battleship for this year. So to keep things easy, Mayuki had the entirety of the former crew of the _Harekaze_ assigned to the _Tokoro_ plus she wasn't that much bigger. Besides it would help with learning various cultures and how to respect them.

* * *

 _Two Weeks Later_

 _Shortly after the Entry Ceremony_

 _Following Misaki Akeno_

The instant that Akeno saw the _Tokoro_ , she fell in love. The Light Cruiser was only a little longer than the _Harekaze_. She was painted exactly like the _Harekaze_ had been, dark grey hull, with a red stripe on her, and her registry number in white. The _Tokoro_ was decently well armed, she had six 14cm/50 caliber 3rd Year Type Naval Guns, four guns were in twin turrets and two guns were in single turrets, she had four 61cm Torpedo Launchers in two twin mounts, she also had four Type 96 25mm AA/AT Guns in two twin mounts. Her Registry number was Y501, however in Akeno's personal opinion, while the _Tokoro_ had none of the charm that the _Harekaze_ had, she most certainly had a charm of her own.

However the greatest surprise came when she, in company with Rin, Koko, Mashiro, Tama, and Mei walked onto the bridge. For not only was Shiro-chan carrying Tamonmaru which was one of the two Ship Cats that the _Harekaze_ had, but sitting on a piece of equipment on the bridge was Isoroku, wearing a seemingly bored expression on his face.

"Isoroku! There you are!" Akeno said surprise in her tone; she had looked everywhere for Isoroku after the _Harekaze_ had sank, but simply couldn't find the cat. It was clear that he had now jumped ship and had likely returned to the docks at the school.

Isoroku jumped off the the instrument he was sitting on and then brushed up against Mashiro's leg causing her to jump in surprise, which she hadn't expected, but she then smiled and then set Tamonmaru down who promptly began to prance around with the larger cat, mewing with joy as she was reunited with his playmate.

"Make preparations to get underway! Man your stations! Let's bring her to life!" Akeno ordered and the bridge crew sprang to their tasks. "Crewmen at the bow, prepare to leave the harbor! Raise anchor! Take in all lines!" She said into the ship wide speaking tube.

The anchor chain that held the portside anchor slowly rose, at the same time, the trumpeter, Marikouji Kaede, blew a bugle and while it was horribly off key, it just made everything perfect. Also standing near the bow, watching the anchor chain was Himeji Kayoko, once she saw the anchor chain go taut as it pulled the anchor off the bottom. She lowered the red flag she was holding and raised a green flag.

Akeno smiled because she knew with her next order she was going to take them all back to their home away home, the ocean. "Both sides, take her out nice and slow! Make your course 150 degrees! _Tokoro_ , set sail!" She said, with a chiming of bells that rang throughout the bridge, the lee helm rang ahead slow. The sound that the force draft blower was creating intensified as more air was forcibly sucked into boilers, to keep oil-fueled fires that burned in the _Tokoro_ 's heart going and the three turbines that powered the _Yuubari_ -class Light Cruiser accepted the glorious offering of steam from her blazing heart of eight Kampon Boilers at much higher flow rate, that began turning the blades of the turbines at a much higher rate, the geared turbines, then began turning the reduction gears which led to the three propeller shafts which in turn, began turning as well. Screws bit into the water and the _Tokoro_ began to move forward steadily, quickly picking up speed as she cleared the docks; coming up to 10 knots.

Five minutes later, with the entire bridge crew wearing grins. Akeno gave the next set of orders. "Chief Navigator, Operations!" Akeno said, and it was echoed by the rest of the Bridge Crew save for Rin.

"Both sides, ahead standard, no problems. Compass Bearing 150 degrees." Akeno said.

"Understand Captain! Chief Navigator, both sides, ahead standard, no problems. Compass Bearing 150 degrees." Rin said an enormous grin on her face, she had certainly changed over the summer, it was incredible. In fact everyone had changed in some but, Rin had likely changed the most, for now she was no longer timid but full of self-confidence. With a chiming of bells, the engine telegraph rang up ahead standard.

The _Toroko_ , was sailing out in company with the rest of the fleet. Which included the _Kaga_ which was a powerful _Tosa_ -class Battleship, the _Akagi_ which was a mighty _Amagi_ -class Battlecruiser, the _Ikoma_ which was a powerful _Ikoma_ -class Heavy Cruiser (Design B-65 Cruiser), plus the _Maya_ , with Light Cruisers _Nagara_ , _Natori_ , _Isuzu_ , and _Yuubari_ , plus destroyers _Hamakaze_ , _Nowaki_ , _Yukikaze_ , _Arashi_ , _Maikaze_ , _Tanikaze_ , _Tokitsukaze_ , _Yuugumo_ , _Wakashio_ , and _Akishio_.

From the crow's nest to down in the engine rooms, every member of the _Tokoro_ 's crew of 32 had a major grin on their face as they headed out into the Philippine Sea and headed south; plotting a course to Manila. It was the start of a new year and everyone on board the _Tokoro_ was eager to meet new friends and to learn how the United States Navy operates.

A few hours after the _Tokoro_ left harbor, they were steaming along at eighteen knots, heading southeast. They were making decent progress, they had no problems occurring. It was a great day to be at sea with the sun shining and not a single cloud in sight.

"Koko-chan, what's the composition of the United States Junior Naval Academy Asiatic Floatilla?" Akeno asked; she needed to know what sort of ships they were going to be seeing.

"Right, according to the latest roster that was done. In terms of ship classes, they have One _New York_ -class Dreadnought Battleship, one _Northampton_ -class Heavy Cruiser, one _Omaha_ -class Light Cruiser, four _Olympia_ -class Protected Cruisers, two _Tennessee_ -class Armored Cruisers, fourteen _Clemson_ -class Destroyers, five _Wickes_ -class Destroyers, seven _Porpoise_ -class Diesel-Electric Submarines, six _Salmon_ -class Diesel-Electric Submarines, nine _Sargo_ -class Diesel-Electric Submarines, seven _S_ -class Diesel-Electric Submarines, and various other support ships." Kouko said in response as she looked up from her iPad and the roster of ships that the Asiatic Station had.

"Thanks Koko-chan." Akeno said with a slight smile; however internally Akeno's shoulders slumped. Why did the United States Navy Junior Academy Asiatic Floatilla have such old and outdated ships? Yet the United States Navy Junior Academy's Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and Norfolk all had tremendously more advanced ships, including arguably the most lethal Battleship to be commanded by High School Students the mighty _Montana_ -class Fast Battleship.

* * *

 _Several Days later_

 _Manila Bay_

A few days later, the _Tokoro_ sailed into Manila Bay, she was greeted by a _Clemson_ -class Destroyer a few minutes later.

"There's our welcoming committee." Mashiro said as the _Clemson_ -class quickly sent up a fairly colorful set of signal flags explaining for the _Tokoro_ to follow them as well as identifying them as the USS _Pope_ DD-225.

"Rin, follow the _Pope_ ; they know this area better than we do." Akeno ordered as the _Pope_ heeled over and began to steam back the way she had come. Her sharp paint job of Pearl White, Gold, and Slick Black gleaming in the sunlight.

"Understood, setting course to follow the _Pope_." Rin said as she spun the wheel to follow the American _Clemson_ -class.

"She _is_ pretty. That paint job looks amazing on her, I mean it basically screams that she is a United States Navy Junior Academy Ship. Still I wonder why they chose that paint scheme." Mei said as she stared at the _Pope_ as she effortlessly moved, with very little smoke coming from her four exhaust stacks meaning that they engine room crew was very good and that the boilers were clean.

"Aye" Tama said with a nod; it was clear that she too was impressed by the paint scheme of the _Pope_ and how _beautiful_ it made the small destroyer.

After a few minutes, they received instructions to tie up at the Quay across from the _Marblehead_ which was the _Omaha_ -class Light Cruiser. It was at this point that they saw the rest of the surface ships and they were all painted like the _Pope_ was, in the colors of the famous Great White Fleet.

"Have the rails manned, and prepare to secure the ship!" Akeno ordered, within a few moments the crew of the _Tokoro_ were lining the rails, ready to throw the securing lines to the dockhands.

A few minutes later, with help from a pair of tugboats, the _Tokoro_ was nestled up against the Quay. A few moments later, lines connected the Light Cruiser to the quay. "All stop, finished with the engines!" Akeno ordered.

"All stop, finished with the engines!" Rin said and with a ringing of bells the engine telegraph rang finished with the engines.

With that done, Akeno went to the speaking tube for the engine room. "Maron-chan, secure boilers one, two, and three; but maintain 200 PSI on boilers four, five, six, seven, and eight!" Akeno said.

"Can do, skipper!" Yanagiwara Maron replied.

"Looks like we got a party waiting. I don't think we should keep them waiting." Mashiro said, pointing out a shore party of ten was approaching, seven of them appeared to be students, but they were dressed in sharp United States Navy Service Dress Khaki Uniforms, another two appeared to be wearing an American Service Dress White Uniforms, and lastly another one was wearing a Service Dress Blue Uniform.

"Agreed, let's go meet them." Akeno said.

* * *

A few minutes later, the bridge crew for the _Tokoro_ , dressed in their best school uniforms walked down the _Tokoro_ 's gangway; to greet their new teachers, Principal, and classmates for this one school year.

As they walked down the gangway, they saw that of the seven people in the Service Dress Khaki Uniforms, three were High School age girls and four were High School age Boys, that meant they were students; of the two wearing Service Dress White Uniforms one was a man and the other was a woman; and lastly the person wearing the Service Dress Blue Uniform was a man as well.

"Captain Akeno; on behalf of the staff and the students, welcome to Manila. It's a pleasure to meet you, I am Headmaster Travis Riggs of the United States Navy Junior Academy, Asiatic Division. However I also hold the rank of Commodore Admiral in the USN." The man in front said, identifying himself. Commodore Admiral Travis Riggs was a tall man, coming in at 6 feet 3 inches tall; he was fifty-two years old and he had grey eyes and brown hair which was beginning to gray at the edges.

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Riggs." Akeno replied, bowing her head slightly.

"I am Captain Kayden Pearson, I am one of the instructors here at the United States Navy Junior Academy Asiatic Station. Like the Admiral here, I am a servicewoman in the United States Navy." The woman in Service Dress White Uniform said, introducing herself.

"A pleasure to meet you Ms. Pearson." Akeno said bowing her head slightly, and the Mashiro, Kouko, Mei, Rin, and Shima either nodded or bowed their heads slightly.

"I am Captain Reuben Weeks and one the instructors here at the United States Navy Junior Academy Asiatic Station. Just like the rest of the instructors as well as the Principal here, we are all active duty members of the United States Navy. However you will find that the students here are very resourceful when it comes to doing just about everything and I do mean anything." The man in Service Dress Whites said, introducing himself.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Weeks. It's an honor to be here really. I really hope to learn something here and be able to pass it onto my classmates." Akeno said bowing slightly. After that the two instructors and the Principal took their leave. However not before letting them know that the _Tokoro_ was going to be setting sail with her task group, which was codenamed Task Force Sword in three days.

That was when one of the boys wearing the Service Dress Khaki Uniforms spoke up. "The name is Thomas Higgins and I am the commander of one the _Tennessee_ -class Armored Cruiser; the USS _Nome_ ACR-15. My ship is the flagship of the task force that your ship has been assigned to." One of the students said, introducing himself as the commanding officer of one of the Armored Cruisers. Thomas was a powerfully muscled and broad shouldered, as well as tall; he stood at roughly 6 feet 5 inches in height, he had sharp blue eyes and russet brown hair and he was 17 years old.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Thomas." Akeno said.

The boy next to him spoke up. "Hello there, my name is Curtis Matthews. I am the commander of one of the two _Clemson_ -class Destroyers in the task force. USS _Whippie_ DD-217. It's a major honor to actually meet the crew that figured out the thing with the RATs and put a stop to it. I know for a fact that the ol' _Whippie_ won't be able to do that. At least not without suffering a large amount of casualties." Curtis said, giving the command crew of the _Tokoro_ a wry smile. Curtis Matthews stood at 5 feet 6 inches tall, was fifteen years old, he had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.

"Wait? What do you mean that the _Whippie_ wouldn't have been able to do what the _Harekaze_ did without taking a large amount of casualties?" Rin asked confused.

"It's quite simple actually. The _Whippie_ is only 314 feet long, 30 feet wide, and has draft of about 9.5 feet. There simply isn't room for much automation. So as a result she has _way_ larger crew. Roughly one hundred and twenty-two men and women. Also before you ask, it's the exact same with the _Wickes_ -class Destroyers, the various classes Destroyer Escorts, and submarines; however something tells me that it also has to do with the fact that old habits die hard, but yeah. However it does mean that the crews actually grow closer together because of the fact that Teamwork is needed to a much higher degree than on the damn Gold Platers." Curtis said.

"WAIT! You mean that your ship has a full crew?" Mashiro asked stunned.

"Yep, and the _Whippie_ is a well oiled machine." Curtis replied with a grin on his face.

"Anyway! I am Hazel Wyatt and I am the commander of the _Olympia_ -class Protected Cruiser USS _Silverton_ PC-50 and I will admit, she is a hell of a ship. She might be an old design, but don't mess with her! She will screw you." Hazel said as she introduced herself. Hazel Wyatt was 16 years old, she stood at 5 feet 6 and half inches tall, she had light purple eyes and ginger red hair.

"Nice to meet you!" Mei said energetically.

"Same to you." Wyatt said.

"Okay, okay I will go next. I am David Sharp, commanding officer of the USS _Paul Jones_ DD-230, the other _Clemson_ -class Destroyer. She maybe old, but I don't about you, but she has her own personality. That I can tell for sure!" One of the boys said, introducing himself. He had dark forest green eyes and short, curly blue black hair.

"It's a pleasure to meet you David." Kouko said.

"I guess, I'll go next. I am Juliannie McCormick and I am the commander of the USS _Durango_ PC-51. Which is the sister ship to the _Silverton_ , so she is an _Olympia_ -class Protected Cruiser. Also, you can just call me Julia." She said, Julia stood roughly 5 feet 5 inches tall, she had strawberry blonde hair, dark blue eyes and was roughly 15 years old.

"Nice to meet you." Tama said with a nodded.

"The name is Oscar Rollins and I am in command of a _Wickes_ -class Destroyer, the USS _Cole_ DD-155. The design maybe old and outdated, but I don't care, because she is pretty; particularly with the paint job she wears." He said, introducing himself, Oscar stood at 5 feet 9 inches in height, had ginger brown hair, brown eyes, and was roughly eighteen years old.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Rollins." Akeno said.

"The pleasure's mine." Oscar replied.

"Alright, I guess I should be going next. My name is Luciana Davenport, and I am the commander of the USS _Ingraham_ DD-111. She's a fine ship and has a great crew. However, we all agree that you deserve to be commended, because I mean going nose to nose with _Musashi_ of all ships. That takes bravery beyond measure, particularly when you are in something like a _Kagerou_ -class Destroyer; because to be frank even a _Montana_ -class Battleship would have trouble against a _Yamato_ -class Fast Battleship and those monsters are stupendously well armed. It takes guts to go nose with one of the largest battleship ever constructed particularly when you are in a destroyer." Luciana said.

"It's a pleasure." Akeno said.

With introductions out of the way, the various captains of the various ships went to get there ships ready for sea. However as Akeno began to follow the rest of the _Tokoro_ 's command crew back to the _Tokoro_ , to oversee her being refueled, having her paint touched up, and having her food and water stores restocked. When Thomas got her attention.

"Captain Misaki, can I have a word with you?" Thomas called.

"Sure thing Captain Higgins!" Akeno replied and walked over to where the man was sitting, which was on a bench, near the quay.

"What is it?" Akeno asked as she sat down.

"Your a damn fine a skipper. I am going to say that right now; it's going to be my pleasure to be able sail with you. I am certain we will be able to learn from each other. I mean, to be frank the type of tactics you use; like for example doing figure eights to create a smokescreen to hide from the _Admiral Graf Spee_ or by using knowledge of an area to succeed in forcing the _Hiei_ to run aground and to do it in such a major fashion that while the temporary repair held for the rest of the school year. The Battleship needs roughly eight months in drydock to get repaired and to have everything fixed! Plus with how you managed to get close enough to the _Musashi_ to board her! The tactics and strategies that you can come up with, are incredibly dicey. Plus the fact that you like to command from the front and is more than willing to do anything that your crew could do. While some may call it luck; I don't call it luck. I have to say, you are brilliant tactician and a natural sailor, capable of coming up with effective tactics and reading the situation on the fly, then you act accordingly on that information. It's a rare gift and I have to admit, there aren't many who have that ability." Thomas explained, speaking in the sort of tone that one would use to speak to a superior officer.

"But most of it was luck. That's the thing, it wasn't the fact that I am a brilliant Tactician but the fact that we were just lucky. I mean facing down two real battleships, a Pocket Battleship, and a submarine; succeeding in crippling the Pocket Battleship, doing major damage to the submarine, and succee-" Akeno began to say before she was cut off by Thomas.

"That is bullshit! You're a real tactician; I mean sure, you probably got lucky with the Submarine. I will count that to luck, because as it is; it's hard enough to hit a submarine with depth charges; the fact that you managed to cripple the _I-201_ with just one Depth Charge and the only one you had. That was probably luck. However the plan that you came up with to stop the _Hiei_ ; that is the sign of a true tactician as well as a great sailor, I certainly wouldn't have thought of that. I would have likely just rammed a torpedo down her throat and blow the bow off; that would have forced them to stop and focus on saving the ship." Thomas said.

"Rea-Really? You actually believe that I know how to setup any action against hostile ships that I am doing to the point where the enemy holds a few cards but my ship and my crew of hold the majority? Not to mention you believe I am a natural sailor?" Akeno asked surprised.

Thomas nodded "That is certainly true. You know what you're doing in terms of being a tactician and a sailor, because you are very smart and know a lot about the ocean and the tides of various places, etc.. Not to mention you have a _damn_ fine crew. Plus you have a kind heart. Those are three of the four key components in terms of becoming a great sailor and in my opinion an excellent Blumer. However the fourth and most important component comes from within. This last component is faith in yourself and while at times it may seem hard to find; always remember that you have faced worst situations and pulled through. It really shows that you know what you're doing." He said.

"I see, thanks Thomas. Anyway; I have to get back to the _Tokoro_ before my Deputy Captain begins to wonder were I am." Akeno said as she stood up and began to trot toward the _Tokoro_.

Thomas chuckled. "I believe that, my deputy captain is much the same. Which means I have to head to the _Nome_." He said.

* * *

 _Four Days later_

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

Akeno looked around, she was impressed greatly by the seven American High School Ships, they all carried an air of power behind them. Their paint just glittering in the sun. All of the ships that they were sailing in company with were old in terms of design. Yet while they were old, they carried their age with a sense of pride. One that only sailors could see and identify. Yet while design might be old, several things were different about these ships; with the exception of the Destroyers they had a fair bit of automation, meaning they needed a much smaller crew than a warship of their size would need, two all of the ships were oil burners instead of coal burners, mainly for safety and health reasons though, also to help with learning how to operate them, the ships that did have Reciprocating engines had turbines instead, three all of the ships had radar, four the guns were made with modern methods and the powder and projectiles were made with modern methods as well, and finally in the case of the _Olympia_ -class Protected Cruisers; the 8in/35 caliber guns they had been equipped with were replaced with twin 8in/55 Caliber Gun mounts mainly to make logistics easier. Yet even so, the ships looked incredible with the paint scheme they were wearing.

They were sailing south southwest at eighteen knots, and were scheduled to within a few days transit through the Sunda Strait and then head North. Up one of the busiest shipping corridors on the planet.

"Hard to believe that the United States Navy focuses so much on working as a task force, I mean sure the Blue Mermaids focus on teamwork. However the United States Navy just takes that to a whole new meaning of that. I mean, they recognize the fact that by having multiple ships with varying capabilities sailing together, they can cancel out they downsides of the other ships. Like for example, Destroyers are great at hunting submarines, but their main weakness is Cruisers, which can easily sink Destroyers, so by sailing in concert with Cruisers of their own, they can protect the Cruiser against Submarines, while the Cruiser can engage enemy cruisers, however the main weakness for Cruiser is that it struggles against battleships, by having Cruisers and destroyers sailing in concert with Battleships; they can protect the Battleship against enemy submarines and harassing cruisers, while the Battleship engages enemy Battleships. It's actually quite brilliant." Kouko said as she looked up from her iPad.

"I know, tell me about it." Akeno said as she looked at her watch. "Almost time for a Watch to change; yet you have got to admit that the United States Navy have a cool professionalism about them; not to mention they are basically a global police force and every single Blumer force out there respects them. I mean have you even _seen_ one of there big Battleships? I sure haven't but I sure would want to see one at some point."

"I remembered hearing that the United States Navy has ten _Nuclear Powered_ Battleships; ranging from the USS _Enterprise_ BBN-72 to the _Nimitz_ -class BBGN. Which is impressive." Rin said.

"Let me check that." Kouko said as she started up the _Jane's Fighting Ships_ app on her iPad. After a few minutes of flipping through the various countries. "Found it! Wow! The USS _Enterprise_ BBN-72; standard displacement 78,567 tons, full load displacement is 93,250 tons, she is 342 meters long, has a beam at the waterline of 42 meters, and a draft of, whoa holy, of 13.5 meters. Her top speed is 33 knots, her propulsion system is eight A2W Reactors turning four turbines, her main battery is composed of sixteen Mark 7 16in/50 Caliber Naval Guns in four Quadruple Mounts, with a range of 22,110 meters with Mark 8 AP rounds and a range of 25,010 meters with Mark 13 HC rounds; from a range of 18,000 meters a Mark 8 'Super Heavy' AP round can penetrate 509 millimeters of side armor, her secondary battery is composed of twenty 5in/54 Caliber Mark 45 Mod 0 Double mounts with a maximum range of 23,130 meters and an effective range of 15,000 meters, these guns have a rate of fire twenty rounds per minute, per barrel when in automatic mode, when working with MT-PD rounds and a fuse setter the rate of fire is restricted to 16 rounds per minute per barrel, her AA capability is provided by eight 20mm Phalanx CIWS for close in work and forty 3in/70 Caliber Rapid Fire Guns, these have a range of 17,840 meters at an elevation of 45 degrees, and a rate of fire of 110 rounds per minute. Her armor is based on 'All or Nothing' and is exactly like the armor scheme for the _Yamato_ -class except large amounts of STS steel were used in her construction. She's world's first Nuclear Powered Battleship and can steam at Flank almost indefinitely, the only reason is to put into port is because of supplies. She has a crew of 3,750 and a USMC Marine Compliment of 350. That is very impressive." Kouko said as she looked up from her iPad.

Mei let out a long, slow whistle. "That's insanity! That ship wants you sunk, uh, something tells me good luck getting away! She's fast, extremely well armed, well armored, and makes a _Yamato_ -class Battleship look like a rowboat by comparison in terms of size! I bet she is always a sight to see!" She said and that statement was agreed by everyone on the bridge.

"Still hard to believe, we've spent only three days with the Americans, and they are all treating us like were Blumers who are off-duty for the moment. I don't get it." Rin said.

"I talked to Mr. Higgins; the commander of the _Nome_ and he said that, everyone here respects us. They admire the fact that, we managed defeat two Battleships using very creative tactics. From making the _Hiei_ runaground and then that crazy stunt we did to stop the _Musashi_. He said and he knows this as well, but we were all commended for our bravery." Akeno said.

"I know, I mean it's one thing to be commended for bravery, by the school; but it's another thing to be commended by the Blue Mermaids; I mean, that's saying something, it's never happened before in the history of any High School Fleet in the world. So, either way; we've already gone down in history. So, that's nice." Rin replied, a smile on her face.

The bell to signal the end of the watch was about to ring; the time was roughly 1658 hours when suddenly, the speaking tube for the Telegraph room rang out. " _Captain! Incoming message from Singapore! They're under attack!_ " Yugi Tsugumi yelled.

* * *

 **AN: There we go! That's done! Now I bet this raises a lot of questions, who could be attacking Singapore? Why are they doing it? Most importantly, how will the Task Force Sword respond? All of these questions will be answered in the next chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic.**

 **Anyway take care folks and I'll catch you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: First off, I know I am evil with that Cliffhanger, I bet it raises a lot of questions. First is, who's attacking? Second is, why are they attacking? Third is what is the enemy force composition? The list goes on. However what the crew of the** _ **Tokoro**_ **and the rest of Task Force Sword will find out, is that it will not be pleasant.**

 **With that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and sail into this story!**

* * *

" _WHAT!?_ " Everyone on the bridge yelled in surprise. This was an unexpected development! Who could be attacking? Some many questions came to the minds of the bridge crew. However, Akeno got over her shock first.

"Tsugumi, confirm it! Figure out what's going on there!" She barked sharply, her voice firm. This sudden report just sent all thoughts of sleeping tonight right out the window.

"Confirmed! Confirmed! First thing I did was that I asked the other ships in the task force if they picked it up! They all did!" Tsugumi replied quickly.

Akeno bit back a sharp curse, because she knew that in just a few seconds things would begin to get a little crazy. She strode to the ship wide speaking tube, knowing that she was about to make a few people pretty upset in terms of being rudely awakened. "All hands to your stations!" She ordered sharply. A few seconds later, ringing sharply throughout the ship, was the sound of Kaede playing her bugle, this was followed quickly by some cursing and the sound of people moving as quickly as they dared while half asleep.

It didn't take long for Mashiro, Tama, and Mei to show up on the bridge looking very sleepy. "What's going on?" Mei asked, yawning.

"Singapore is under attack from forces unknown!" Akeno said sharply, almost instantly Mashiro, Tama, and Mei were wide awake; looks of surprise etched on their faces.

"Captain! Picking up more chatter from Singapore! This time it's coming over the radio and _not_ repeat _not_ morse!" Tsugumi said quickly through the speaking tube.

"Patch it through, quickly!" Akeno ordered.

"Yes Captain!" Tsugumi replied and a few moments later, a voice with a heavily accent began to come over the bridge speakers.

" _Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This Commander Dara binti Derman of the Singaporean Blue Mermaid Stealth Frigate_ Stalwart _! We're under attack! I repeat we are under attack! The outlines of the attacking ships don't match any known ship anywhere! Closest thing we can wager, is that we are under from what appears to be one possibly two_ Admiral _-class Battlecruisers, two_ Zao _-class Heavy Cruisers, a single_ Gussiano _-class Light Cruiser, and eight maybe twelve_ Mogador _-class Destroyers! They are tearing us to pieces! We require assistance ASAP! Please help us!_ " Commander Derman cried, the tone in her voice was fearful, and heavy explosions could be heard over the radio feed nearly the entire time.

"That's it captain; it just keeps repeating. Wait a minute! Getting more communication chatter! It's really long range! Patching it through!" Tsugumi said.

Moments later a hearty female British accent came over the bridge speakers. "This is Sophie Saunders in command of the British High School Fleet Battleship HMS _Prince of Wales_ sailing in company with HMS _Repulse_ , HMS _Exeter_ , HMS _Cornwall_ , HMS _Dorsetshire_ , HMS _Durban_ , HMS _Delphi_ , HMS _Danae_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMS _Electra_ , HMS _Encounter_ , and HMS _Jupiter_! Hang on Singapore! We are on our way! ETA Four Hours!" The commander of the _Prince of Wales_ said, responding to the frantic mayday call from Singapore.

Then the Talk Between Ships began to squawk. " _This is Captain Higgins on the_ Nome _all ships listen up! We are the closest to Singapore! If we push our engines, we can arrive within ninety minutes! So we are going to respond. Because, the mission statement of the United States Navy is the following! The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train, equip combat ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom of the seas!_ " Thomas barked sharply.

A few moments later Tsugumi began piping the response for Task Force Sword onto the bridge. " _This is Thomas Higgins commanding officer of the United States Junior Naval Academy Armored Cruiser USS_ Nome _sailing in concert with the Protected Cruisers_ Durango _and_ Silverton _, the Japanese High School Fleet Exchange Ship_ Tokoro _, and destroyers_ Whippie _,_ Paul Jones _,_ Cole _, and_ Ingraham _! Our Estimated Time for Arrival is 2 hours 15 minutes! Just hang in their!_ " Thomas barked over the radio.

" _Ten-four_ Nome _! We'll try our best!_ " Came the response.

Akeno looked around at the rest of the bridge crew; they all had stunned expressions on their faces. Mainly because here they were, sailing to the rescue of the coastal/floating city of Singapore which was under attack by forces unknown. Against ships that would easily tear Task Force Sword apart. Unless careful coordination was used, either way. The battle that was coming up was bound to be a tough one. It was going to be a planned action as well.

As if to prove that the TBS squawked and Mr. Higgins on the _Nome_ began speaking. " _Listen up all ships! The upcoming action we are about to engage in, is bound to be tough on all of us! However, we work together, we can win! The plan is going to involve having the_ Nome _,_ Durango _, and_ Silverton _get in close and hammer that Battlecruiser!_ Tokoro _, your job is to take care of the enemy cruisers, and destroyers you are to engage enemy destroyers and engage the cruisers and the battlecruiser with your torpedoes! If we do this right, we can win no problem!_ " He said, his voice so full confidence in the ability of the crews of the ships in his task force. A chorus of replies, each one filled with gusto and bravery.

"Roger that _Nome_." Akeno said, with bravery in her tone than she felt.

The task force quickly adjusted course, and began making best speed for Singapore. While on the United States High School Ships, they went to General Quarters, a thunderous gonging that resounded through the air, that was quickly followed by sound of people running to various stations, the sounds of hatches being slammed shut. Another order went out, all ships were to douse all lights, that way they could approach under the cover of night.

Either way the night was bound to be long one.

* * *

 _Royal Singapore Blue Mermaid Ship_ Stalwart

 _Commander Dara binti Derman commanding_

The _Stalwart_ shook violently as another furious salvo of shells from that funky looking _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser bracketed the Stealth Frigate _Stalwart_ , whoever these rotten bastards were, they had caught the Singaporean Blue Mermaids with their pants down. They caught entire force for the most part in port, they had steamed in from an unexpected direction and the first hint that they gave the Singaporean Blue Mermaids, was when the shells and torpedoes started hitting ships and floating buildings. The enemy had opened fire indiscriminately, who knew how bad the casualties were by now, but they had to be high.

The only consolation that Commander Derman took, was the fact that these sons of bitches couldn't seem to hit a wildly maneuvering, _Formidable_ -class Stealth Frigate, the problem was, they had to dance a fine line between the main battery and the secondary battery, too close and the secondary battery would tear them to pieces, too far and the main battery would clobber them. The fact that the OTO Melara Super Rapido 76mm Gun didn't seem to be really scratching the bastard, in terms of doing damage to the hull, it _was_ tearing the crap out of the visible secondary and anti-air guns that the monster had.

"Commander! Report from ship two! They just clobbered by a pair of destroyer launched torpedoes! They're done for, they're sinking!" Derman's first officer said as the _Stalwart_ shook violently from another straddling salvo.

" _FUCK!_ " Derman snarled, the ship designated ship two had been the _Victory_ -class Corvette _Vigour_ , with that ship down, that meant the _Independence_ -class Littoral Combat Ships the _Dauntless_ , _Fortitude_ , and _Justice_ as well as the old _Fearless_ -class patrol ships _Unity_ , _Freedom_ , _Brave_ , and _Daring_ were going to have a much harder time stopping the destroyers from breaking through and raising utter hell in the city.

Then the circuit for the engine room started up and almost instantly, the Chief Engineer began begging for permission to secure the portside shaft, that last salvo had either snapped it, bent it, or had caused the propellor on that shaft to throw a blade, either way a really _bad_ vibration had started up and if they didn't secure it, they could wind up destroying the seals around the shaft and flood the engine room. "I don't give a damn, Chief! We slow the fuck down, we will die! So don't secure that shaft! Keep it going!" Derman snarled, and thus the begging quieted down but it didn't stop completely.

"We can't scratch that son of a bitch with our gun! Commence torpedo warfare!" Derman snapped and thus, as the _Stalwart_ came out from the thunderous brackets from 15in shells, she turned to port and a door opened and a triple torpedo tube system was pushed forward.

"Ready to commence torpedo warfare!" The chief weapons officer said.

" _Fire!_ " Derman snarled, and with three _wha-chuffs_ , the torpedo tube mount spat three Italian Made AS-244S Lightweight torpedoes, each torpedo had a speed of 57 knots and packed a 120 pound warhead. Realistically, they likely would rattle the hell out of the crew on that Battlecruiser, but probably wouldn't even crack the hull, however it was better than nothing. However, when the _Stalwart_ turned, and that door opened, her radar return that she gave off became a lot bigger. At around the sametime the torpedoes were fired, fireballs erupted down the length of the battlecruiser as her guns boomed in anger.

"HARD TO PORT! AHEAD FLANK, OVERLOAD THE GODDAMN ENGINES!" Derman screamed, and the _Stalwart_ began turn. It did throw the solution off, however one High Capacity round connected with the Stealth Frigate and tore vast holes in the ship with its sheer mass, and then it exploded. The _Stalwart_ shuddered so violently that it was as if the ship had been smacked by an angry god and everyone tumbled to the deck. A few moments later damage reports began reaching the bridge.

" _CIC here! That shell went off likely on our deck! Almost every single computer in here has had it! Auxiliary Conn is out as well! Only weapons that we can still control is the main gun and the Harpoons!_ " Someone in CIC reported.

" _Captain! The portside turbine has been thrown from it's mounting! It's a goddamn mess down here! I have two dead down here and the rest of us are injured! I've already secured the fuel lines for the damn thing, but either way fuel oil is splashed all over the compartment, one spark down here and we are going to be in serious trouble._ " The chief reported sharply, that meant there was simply carnage down below.

" _We have a major fire in the galley! The refrigerator and oven have been practically destroyed by shell fragments!_ " A report from the galley came.

"Damage control to the galley!" Derman said as along the flanks of the monster that had just brutalized the _Stalwart_ , three large dirty plumes of water erupted as the torpedoes impacted.

"That battlecruiser barely noticed it! Speed is unchanged, she's still going fourteen knots." The weapon officer said, Derman sighed she had expected that.

However, time had seemed to slowly pass, yet relief beyond measure was expressed when the remains of the _Stalwart_ 's radio crackled. " _This is the_ Nome _, we're on station. If you can just take care of that Battlecruiser! We'll take care of the rest!_ " Higgins said.

Feeling relieved that they had lasted so long, Derman grabbed the talker and spoke into it. "Consider it done!"

"Helm! Bring us about! I want to be pointed at that bastard! Commence Missile Warfare! Fire Harpoons!" Derman barked.

"Yes ma'am!" The Helmsman and the Chief Weapon Officer said as sluggishly the _Stalwart_ came around, and then her bow was pointed at the battlecruiser.

"Missile warfare ready!" The Chief Weapon Officer said.

"Commence firing!" Derman said and just a few seconds later, the bow was encompassed in fire, as the Harpoons shot out of there launchers and screamed toward the enemy battlecruiser. Missiles exploded as the AA guns and possibly something else engaged the incoming missiles. Yet, the _Stalwart_ had fired two dozen of the damn things, so while enemy flak and point defense systems were going to get some of them. There were just too many missiles. Six missiles got through the flak, did a "Pop-up" maneuver, nosed over and dove, they slammed into the target, punching deep into the hull by tearing through the deck and then they exploded, ripping the ship to pieces. A magazine touched off for a gout of fire, leaped upward, with a groan of steel the hull rose upward amidships and then it slammed down and the ship seemingly exploded. With a series tremendous secondary explosions, which blasted the turrets in the 'X' and 'Y' positions right off the ship as blasts tore the warship apart. What remained was gone in moments.

Seconds later, with a rattling roar, the _other_ Battlecruiser made it's presence known. Derman's eyes widened in shock and fear. She hit the ship wide comm. "ALL HANDS! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" She bellowed. Several seconds later, out of eight rounds fired, six hit the _Stalwart_ , with a scream of tortured steel, a series of powerful explosions, and lastly grinding, shuddering, bone rattling _boom_ the _Stalwart_ was split in twain. Water poured in at the rate of hundreds of gallons per minute into the _Formidable_ -class Frigate and she sank like a stone. With some effort, Derman somehow managed to get out of her chair, swam out of one the bridge windows and then toward the surface as what remained the Multi-Mission Frigate plunged into the depths. Derman looked around, a few other Blue Mermaids had managed to get out of the _Stalwart_ as she had sank, but not many maybe six others at the most.

She looked around, Singapore was burning, the water was on fire from burning oil, fires raged out of control in various structures across the city. When suddenly a huge fireball got her attention. As she rubbed disbelieving eyes, one of the _Zao_ -class simply blew up.

* * *

 _USS_ Nome _ACR-15_

 _Thomas Higgins Commanding_

"MOTHERFUCKER! There's two Battlecruisers! All ships, commence combat!" Thomas roared as the _Stalwart_ took multiple large caliber hits then broke in two and then seemed to just _drop_ beneath the surface of the ocean, a moment later, the four 10in/40 Caliber Naval Guns on the _Nome_ thundered, this was quickly followed by the four 8in/55 Caliber guns on the _Durango_ and the _Silverton_. The sudden appearance of more warships caught one of the _Zao_ -class Cruisers off guard. The _Nome_ got two hits, the _Durango_ got three hits, and the _Silverton_ got a hit, the rounds burrowed deeply into the armor of the enemy Heavy Cruiser and exploded. One of the rounds light something important for moments later amid a tremendous explosion and a huge pyre of burning powder. The enemy Heavy Cruiser ceased to be as a magazine touched off and it tore the enemy ship asunder.

The other _Zao_ ceased its bombardment of Singapore and moved in quickly. It's 8in/50 caliber guns booming, and heavy shrieks of shells rent the air. The Destroyers of task force Sword broke away and dashed into the chaos that was the battle against the enemy destroyers. The _Tokoro_ , blew past the _Nome_ , the _Durango_ , and the _Silverton_ as they began to engage the enemy warship, obviously racing to prevent the _Gussiano_ from joining the battle. The _Zao_ focused it's fire on the _Nome_ as she was the biggest threat.

However the _Zao_ -class forgot one important detail; the _Nome_ packed a hearty secondary battery composed of 3in and 6in rifles. "Heave too! Bring our secondary battery to bear!" Thomas ordered as the _Nome_ shuddered as 8in rounds crashed into her armor and either bounced, or in the two separate cases, penetrated and exploded; causing the Armored Cruiser to shudder. The _Nome_ 's main battery fired again, four 10in rounds crashed into the _Zao_ and tore her superstructure and one of the two aft turrets to pieces with Armor Piercing shells. However, now the _Nome_ was broadside on as she finished heaving too.

With a thunderous series of booms, the eleven 3in and eight 6in guns in the secondary battery opened fire, sending HC rounds screaming into the Heavy Cruiser, tearing areas to pieces as 8in/55 Caliber rounds from the _Durango_ tore into the ship. With a roar, shells from the other Battlecruiser plunged into the sea, three hit the _Silverton_ , and took her apart. The ship lurched, and turned away from the _Zao_ -class heavy damaged, flames were spewing from deck and the cries wounded reached them. "Torpedoes! FIRE!" Thomas yelled; the _Nome_ had four 21in submerged torpedo tubes. Two torpedoes were launched at the _Zao_ -class and both impacted, two large plumes of water screeched upward.

Another salvo screamed in from that Battlecruiser and this time caught the _Silverton_ in a tight bracket, with two more hits. This time a large explosion rocked the protected cruiser, and burning oil was blasted all over the ship and the flames quickly took hold and the _Silverton_ came to a groaning stop. Figures were seen running too and throw across the _Silverton_ 's deck, wrestling with hoses, to get that fire under control. However the _Silverton_ was definitely out of the fight.

They needed to put this _Zao_ -class down quickly, else the long range gunfire from that Battlecruiser would tear them to shreds.

* * *

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Misaki Akeno Commanding_

Everyone on the bridge was staring in shock at the _Silverton_ which was aft, and now heavily afire and was beginning to slow down rapidly. She was crippled and out of the fight. "Bring us into position for torpedo attack against that _Giussano_ -class!" Akeno ordered sharply as a salvo from the remaining aft gun turret on the _Zao_ -class bracketed them, it was obvious as to what the enemy Heavy Cruiser was trying to do was trying to alert the _Giussano_ -class that the _Tokoro_ was approaching.

Another salvo from the Battlecruiser screamed overhead and this time seven out of eight shells came down like Thor's hammer onto the _Silverton_ , a tremendous explosion convulsed the protected cruiser, ready rack ammunition cooked off causing even more damage and the ship began to sag and developed a heavy list. It was clear she was doomed and her crew seemed to notice that, for lines were cast over the side and crew members without thought leaped over the side of the dying warship and into the ocean, while motor launches were lowered into the water likely carrying the wounded and the fires continued to spread.

"Jesus Christ, doesn't the gunnery officer on that enemy battlecruiser realize that the _Silverton_ was not a threat anymore? Yet the bastards are still shooting her!" Mei snarled angrily as she gazed at the shattered Protected Cruiser. She was almost completely engulfed in fire.

"I know that! Noma! What bearing are those muzzle flashes from that Battlecruiser on?" Akeno ordered, speaking into the speaking tube for the Crow's Nest.

" _They are on bearing, 335! Long range, no change in bearing. I don't think he's moving!_ " Noma replied over the same speaking tube.

"Thank you!" Akeno said.

"Rin! Bring us about, new course bearing 335! Mei, prepare to launch a torpedo attack! All tubes!" Akeno said sharply.

"Understood! Course change, bringing us about to bearing 335!" Rin replied as she spun the wheel and the ship turned away from her course that would put them in position to attack the _Giussano_ -class and on a course that would allow them to launch an attack at that _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser. Fire pulsed angrily along the horizon and tremendous fiery projectiles raced overhead, sounding like a goddamn freight train. The shells came down in a tight bunch around the _Silverton_ ; a huge explosion ripped the Protected Cruiser to pieces. Flames, smoke, burning oil, and pieces of the ship were hurled skyward amid a massive burning pillar of powder, the _Silverton_ in an instant disintegrated as the 15in rounds ripped her asunder and light off the aft magazines. The now shattered Protected Cruiser settled rapidly rolling onto her port side and then slipping beneath the waves in a matter moments after that hit. The _Silverton_ was gone.

"Sonofabitch" Mashiro breathed angrily however her voice was laced with shock at what had just occurred.

"Aye!" Tama said agreeing with Mashiro.

"We're in range! Perfect position to launch!" Mei exclaimed, her voice tinged with anger, as she spun from the binoculars that also doubled as torpedo directors.

"Bring us to bearing 270! Launch torpedoes!" Akeno ordered and Rin spun the wheel, bringing the _Tokoro_ on to her new course. Moments later, four _wha-chuffs_ resounded followed by heavy splashes as four Type 93s, arguably the best damn straight-running torpedo ever built entered the water and streaked toward their target.

Meanwhile the _Tokoro_ turned away and began to sprint back the way she had come to engage that _Giussano_ before it could become a problem. The violent brawl that was still going against the _Zao_ -class Cruiser, the _Nome_ and the _Durango_ were beginning to tip the scales in their favor, they had the heavy cruiser on the ropes. Plus the arrival of the destroyers had managed to tip the scales.

Four loud booms resounded and flames and smoke shot skyward, as did four large plumes of water. Meaning that the Type 93s had hit home and had ripped gaping wounds into that Battlecruiser's torpedo belt. The Type 93 was one of the best torpedoes ever made, and once again it proved it. Flames were shooting skyward, just one Type 93 could tear a hole 35 feet wide and 20 feet high into the side of a ship, having four such holes torn into the side of the ship, was easily fatal.

Suddenly eight splashes bracketed the _Tokoro_. "IMPACT!" Noma yelled.

"Where? Where? What's shooting at us!?" Mashiro asked frantically as another salvo raced in and bracketed the Light Cruiser.

"It's the _Giussano_! It's engaging us with guns!" Noma shouted in order to be heard above the sounds of combat.

"Thanks Noma! Commence Surface Combat, prepare for Artillery Battle! Commence firing! Target is that _Giussano_!" Akeno said curtly.

"Aye!" Tama said before giving instructions to the gun crews.

Hearty booms resounded as the forward turrets engaged the enemy Light Cruiser. Before they knew it, they were engaged in a fierce artillery duel. The _Giussano_ had the advantage of having more guns, a more powerful secondary battery, better fire control, and speed. However the _Tokoro_ had advantages of her own, she was smaller, more agile, and unlike the Italian Light Cruiser her guns were more accurate and more reliable as well. Those factors played a critical part in the outcome of the battle.

The _Tokoro_ quickly began to tear the enemy light cruiser apart. However, suddenly as another salvo screamed in from the enemy light cruiser, one of the rounds from the _Tokoro_ impacted the torpedo mount that contained four 21in torpedoes. With a thunderous explosion, the torpedoes detonated, a huge fireball roared skyward and the enemy ship slowed suddenly. "Yes! Direct hits!" Mei said energetically, moments later the salvo of shells that the _Giussano_ had fired landed. This time it was a surprisingly tight bracket, shells landed on either side of the Light Cruiser and two rounds connected. One round, literally tore two twin 25mm AA gun mounts right off the ship as it screamed toward the ocean. The other one, impacted hull and with a loud sickening _crump_ it detonated, considering that no high pitched screams or damage reports came through it probably had done minor damage.

"Keep at it! That thing can still fire!" Akeno ordered, and as if to prove her point, the guns on the _Giussano_ flashed, moments later the 14cm guns on the _Tokoro_ let out a ragged salvo. It was obvious that the detonation of the torpedo mount had crippled the enemy light cruiser, but it could still fight. "Mei-chan! Are our torpedoes reloaded?" Akeno asked quickly.

"Yes they are!" Mei replied as she suddenly had to grab the starboard side torpedo director to stop herself from falling as another set of shells bracketed the _Tokoro_. "Good to hear, commence torpedo warfare! Two torpedoes! Target is that _Giussano_! Commence firing!" Akeno said quickly.

"Yes captain!" Mei said as she stared at the _Giussano_ through the torpedo director on the other side. With two shrieks of air, two torpedoes discharged and they streaked toward the crippled Light Cruiser but it was still firing at them. There was ringing crash and everyone staggered. "What was that?!" Rin shouted.

"New hole in the smokestack!" Noma barked as she looked at the stack, which now had smoke pouring out of both the main area and a pair of new holes in the stack.

"Oh! Hehehe!" Rin said as realized the hilarity of the statement, just a new hole in the smokestack nothing to worry about. Suddenly two large large plumes of water erupted against the hull of the enemy warship and it came to almost dead stop in an instant as one torpedo carried away the bow with ease and the other opened her hull up like a sardine can.

"Bullseye!" Mei shouted and then high-fived Tama as the _Giussano_ finally went quiet, done in by a pair of Type 93s.

"Damage report!" Akeno ordered quickly.

" _Maron here! Engine room is fine and so is everyone else, although it's probably 48 degrees celsius down here!_ " Maron said, reporting in.

" _Irako here, no one is injured, but we have a lot of shattered cups and plates down here! Other than that were fine!_ " Irako the head chef for the _Tokoro_ said.

" _Kaburagi here, no damage, and and no injured._ " Kaburagi the medic for the _Tokoro_ said.

The reports streamed in, however than an interesting report came in. " _I found where that round that hit us us and exploded had gone off. Uh, Deputy Captain I hate to say it, but your quarters have been well, completely shredded, almost nothing is recognizable in here._ " Aoki Momo, a member of the _Tokoro_ 's Damage Control Team said.

"You have got to be kidding me; I mean, bad luck still finds me every now and again." Mashiro said dejectedly, saddened at the fact that her quarters had been completely shredded.

The TBS then squawked. " _This is_ Ingraham _, I don't believe it! They're running! The three surviving enemy destroyers are bugging out! Can someone confirm this?_ " Luciana said, her voice stunned.

" _Confirmed! I don't believe it, there running! However I wonder why, they are doing so!_ " Rollins who was on the _Cole_ said, he was shocked as well.

As if to prove why they were running, with a sharp _crack_ , the night which had been light pretty well by fires turned into day as a brilliant flare erupted over the battlefield. Approaching rapidly from the southeast was an amazing sight, HMS _Prince of Wales_ , the rest of the British High School fleet ships that were responding to Singapore's mayday call sailing behind her in a ragged echelon formation. The flare did a damn good job of showing the carnage.

The _Zao_ -class was very low in the water and had very heavy list to starboard, having been taken apart by the _Durango_ and the _Nome_. However, sitting rather low in the water, wounds all over her, was the _Durango_ , the Protected Cruiser had taken a hell of a battering, her forward main gun battery turret had exploded, and a gun barrel had snapped on the aft main gun battery turret, not to mention her bow was _gone_ , her superstructure was utterly smashed, and a spectacular wound was in her flank near the waterline, with smoke gushing out. The _Nome_ was making headway toward the battered _Durango_ but she had taken a pummeling as well, three of her funnels had been utterly shredded and the fourth and been simply shotaway; most of her casemate guns were knocked out as well, and smoke gushed from an impressive wound in the center of the casemate where the 6in guns were mounted, right between two levels, the guns around the wound were all askew. It was clear that while the _Nome_ and the _Durango_ had succeeded in sinking the _Zao_ -class, the _Zao_ -class had pummeled the _Nome_ and the _Durango_ and it appeared as if the _Durango_ might be done for.

"Wow! Look at the British Ships, they are so pretty!" Rin said as she eyed the British Ships, they were painted Light Tan and had an impressive stripe that ran from the pilothouse aft, the color that made up this stripe was Light Sea Green.

"I can concede to that. They certainly are a pretty ships, more so than the _Nome_ , _Durango_ , or _Silverton_." Kouko said as she looked at the British Ships.

* * *

However, as time went on, it became clear that whoever had attacked Singapore, had hit hard. When day finally broke, it revealed pure devastation. Fuel oil fires were everywhere, numerous structures were on fire, worst, the floating quays that the Singaporean Blue Mermaids used to support their _Formidable_ -class Multi Mission Stealth Frigates, had been just utterly ripped apart, it was heavily listing into the water, flames and oil were everywhere. It was clear that five of the six powerful frigates had been sunk at anchor, and the sixth had been lost with only seven survivors out of a crew of fifty two. Granted, the _Stalwart_ the one that had been lost with the majority of it's crew, had managed to set sail, and had engaged the enemy for two solid hours maybe more before being smashed.

However, just as heart-wrenching was the fact that, two of the hardened shelters; which had been designed to take a hell of a beating. Had been cracked open like eggs, by enemy gunfire. Resulting in stupendously heavy civilian casualties. Most of the other ships, except for the ones that had managed to cut their lines, had been completely destroyed. All that was left of the Singaporean Blue Mermaids, was two old _Fearless_ -class Patrol Boats and one _Independence_ -class Patrol Boat.

"Captain, orders from the _Nome_ ; they want us to scuttle the _Durango_. Captain Higgins said that the _Durango_ has a tremendous amount of damage, and that she will sink sooner or later; however he fears that if we let her sink on her own, that she will drift into the city before she does sink and will cause quite the snarl up trying to raise her, so he wants us to sink her now." Tsugumi said.

"Thank you Tsugumi." Akeno said.

"Rin, bring us abreast of the _Durango_. Mei, once we are abreast of the _Durango_ , put our last two torpedoes into her. That should sink her, damn I never thought we would have to scuttle a ship." Akeno ordered softly. She couldn't wait to get to her bed, the stress of the battle that they had just endured was starting to get to her.

The _Tokoro_ pulled abreast of the _Durango_ and from a range of 3,000 meters fired her last two torpedoes. Both ran straight and true, but one was dud and it bounced off the _Durango_ 's hull with a infuriating _CLANG!_ However, the other one proved to be more than enough, because with a tremendous **boom** and a scream of tortured steel. The other Type 93 blew the _Durango_ in half and the two halves sank very quickly and what remained of the proud _Olympia_ -class Protected Cruiser, finally slipped beneath the waves two minutes after the Type 93 hit.

"We had a dud?! Damn, they weren't kidding when they said that it rarely happens. They weren't joking." Mei said, shocked at the fact that they had gotten a dud.

" _Captain! We are getting an emergency message from United States Junior Naval Academy, Asiatic Flotilla!"_ Tsugumi said frantically through the speaking tube.

"What does it say?" Akeno asked curiously.

" _Message reads; All United States Junior Naval Academy Asiatic Flotilla ships. A terrible disaster has unfolded within the span of few a hours, someone has launched attacks on Singapore, Surabaya, Manila, Cavite, Balikpapan, as well as any other city that had a Blue Mermaid presence was hit. According to reports, almost nothing has survived in terms of Blue Mermaids ships and personnel. As such, we are faced with a difficult choice. The logical choice is to leave the area behind and retreat to Guam or we could do the right thing and stay, because with the Professionals devastated, there is no left to keep these sea lanes safe; worse, communications have suddenly become temperamental, we can barely receive Guam, which means if we take the later, we are on our own. In light of this, I am recalling all United States Junior Naval Academy Asiatic Flotilla ships, effective immediately; return to Manila for we have to, as a class come to decision on what to do."_ Tsugumi replied curtly.

"Thank you, Tsugumi." Akeno said, before she looked around.

"Shiro-chan, think you can handle the bridge watch? I am going to go to bed. I haven't gotten any sleep, since yesterday." Akeno said groggily.

"I can handle it, you go get some sleep Captain. You need pretty badly, the last thing we need is for our captain to be dead on her feet." Mashiro said fixing Akeno with a warm smile.

"Thank you, unless it's an emergency until the next watch I am to be disturbed." Akeno said and everyone nodded.

* * *

 _USS_ Nome _ACR-15_

 _Captain Thomas Higgins Commanding_

"Run that by me again, please Number One? How many people did we lose?" Thomas asked his first officer incredulously.

"I am not joking, sir. Our casualty figures are, the entirety of the Engineer Division on the _Silverton_ , so that's eight plus five out of seven for one of the two seven men damage control teams and three for the other damage control team. Also no one has seen Captain Hazel Wyatt either. She likely went down with the _Silverton_. Everyone else from the _Silverton_ is injured, two severely. For _Durango_ no deaths despite the fact that she was stomped into the ground, worst injury suffered aboard her was a shattered femur. It's a similar story for the destroyers, no dead although a lot cuts, scrapes, bruises, and a pair of sprained ankles, other than that they came off scot free. The _Tokoro_ apart from some frayed nerves and wits, as well as couple of bruises, no deaths. We didn't suffer all that bad, despite the fact we got pounded, but we did suffer two fatalities, both damage control men, they were trying to repair the automatic loader for one the 6in guns when we took that hit that knocked four guns out of action and damaged the rest in someway. Almost everyone else is injured, I heard that Boats is complaining about the fact that a bullet punched through the goddam hull and hit him in the ass." The first officer of the _Nome_ , Lana Diaz said.

"Fucking hell, that means we have lost Nineteen?!" Thomas said stunned; never in the history of any High School Fleet anywhere had so many students been killed in a battle. It had happened, but rarely so.

"Yes Captain, we have lost nineteen all I have to say is thank god that our ships have the three layers of protection, it could have been a lot worse, and we might lose two more if we don't get them to a hospital ASAP!" Lana replied.

"FUCK! This is bad! I don't fucking need this! However get them to a hospital! _NOW!_ " Thomas snarled, he didn't want to lose twenty-one, nineteen as it was; to put it simply, it was sobering. However given content of that radio message they'd received a few days ago, something told Thomas, that list was likely going to get longer.

"Yes sir!" Lana said and then promptly left the bridge.

"Fuck! I need a drink or something!" Thomas snapped angrily, this mission to save Singapore had been a bit of a fiasco, from having the _Silverton_ pounded into twisted, mangled wreck to being forced to scuttle the _Durango_ on the account that she had been pounded into an irreparable hulk. It drove home the fact that, not only had Thomas's command been ravaged, but nineteen dead; that just sucked! It meant he had some very tough letters to write.

"You sure sir? I mean, I understand you're mad at the fact that, we have lost nineteen. However you have admit. We were fighting superior ships, I mean Heavy Cruisers are supposed to tear the crap out of Armored and Protected Cruisers. It could have been a lot worse." The helmsman said.

"You are right. It certainly could have been a lot worse. I just can't believe it. I mean, losing the _Silverton_ the way we did and then having to scuttle the _Durango_. It just fucking sucks beyond belief!" Thomas seethed angrily, it had been his responsibility, he had made the call for Task Force Sword to engage the enemy, to come to the rescue of Singapore and it had cost nineteen students there lives. Fighting an enemy who obviously wasn't some small time terrorist cell who had decided to do this for shits and giggles, but was in fact a major terrorist cell that was certainly up to no good and was out to likely destabilize the entire Malay Barrier area and then conquer it most likely.

Sighing Thomas grabbed the talker for the TBS. He _had_ to inform the British about this! This was a dire situation that needed to be rectified. "HMS _Prince of Wales_ come in, come in _Prince of Wales_." He said.

" _This is HMS_ Prince of Wales _,_ _whose transmitting?"_ the Captain of the _King George V_ -class Fast Battleship said.

"This is USS _Nome_ ACR-15; were transmitting _Prince of Wales_." Thomas said.

" _Okay,_ Nome _, roger that. I am reading you five by five. I am Captain Sophie Saunders. What can I do for you today?"_ Sophie asked over the radio, her voice curious.

"Listen up _Prince of Wales_. About an hour ago, every single ship in my task force got a radio message from our school. It has revealed that this was not, I repeat not, an isolated incident were some terrorist cell decided to utterly destroy a city state and the Blue Mermaid Force that protects it and its sea lanes. Whoever these murdering, rotten, sons of bitches are let's just say, they didn't only hit Singapore. These fucking bastards hit every other major Blue Mermaid Base within the Malay Barrier. Destroying the majority of the ships at those bases and inflicting murderous casualties on both Blumer Personnel and Civilians. We are being given a choice, we flee to Guam the 52nd State in the Union or we stay and do our damndest to protect the sea lanes here. I am giving you an offer, come with us to Manila, we stand a better chance against this enemy together then separated. It's likely going to be our best hope for coming out of the ordeal to follow, alive." Thomas said tersely, he _didn't_ want to sugar coat this, oh no, this was something you _just simply did not_ sugar coat.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few minutes. It was obvious that Captain Saunders was weighing her options. Nearly ten minutes passed before she responded.

" _Captain Higgins, I have to say. I do agree with you. I am going to place some calls to a couple of friends in the Dutch East Indies High School Fleet and to the Australian High School Fleet; because I am certain that, while the Aussies would be, nervous to send in their Blumer force after well, so many Blumer forces have been ruthlessly destroyed. Maybe it's fate calling to us, maybe it's just the fact that we are doing the right thing. I just dunno. Either way I agree were in."_ Captain Saunders said over the TBS.

Thomas chuckled. "You know what they say. The United States Navy, a Global force for good." He said earning a laugh from Sophie.

" _Too true mate! Either way, I have to alert my friends and find out what's going on and I will see what I can do. However something tells me we will be desperate for hulls!"_ Sophie said curtly, it was at this point that Thomas was finally able to pin down her accent, likely from Dover.

"Good to hear. Listen, we'll have our most badly wounded people left here in Singapore. We will leave for Manila this afternoon." Thomas said.

" _Ten-Four, just let us know when your leaving. Also I will have all of my ships maintain pressure in their boilers."_ Sophie said, her voice curt.

"Roger that _Prince of Wales_ , over and out!" Thomas said before replacing the Talker back in it's cradle, he then sighed before going down to the wardroom to get a cup of Navy Coffee, brewed strong with a dash of salt.

The one thing that Thomas knew what this unprecedented attack against the Maritime Security forces of East Indies, was that this was beginning of major conflict, possibly the first real major conflict to occur on the high seas since the infamous Armored Fleet Incident in Japan 16 years ago and what had just happened over the course of the night, in terms of damages and death toll had likely already surpassed the damages and death toll for the Armored Fleet Incident. Thomas also had a hunch that considering what had just happened, whoever these bastards were, they were going strike again and again, until the nations in the East Indies bent to there will. _Not if I can help it! I know I won't go down without a fight!_ Thomas thought angrily.

However and no one knew this at the moment, but this was just the first step in an elaborate scheme by a terrorist organization called the Kraken Fleet which was descended from the infamous Armored Fleet, however this time, they were going to conquer of the East Indies and use that as a springboard to launch invasions of Australia, Taiwan, China, and Japan. They were going to cut shipping routes and not open them until various demands were met, among them was the recognition of the lands they had taken over as it's own nation; the United Imperial Republics.

They figured that they had succeeded in being able to do the first part of that, with the decimation of every single Blumer force in the East Indies. Yet they were going to find that one unexpected group was going to say "no" to that plan.

* * *

 **AN: There you go boys and girls! Another chapter in Haifuri: Gone Asiatic! Word of warning, this will be a dark fic. If you can tell by what has occurred. Either way, this is bound to be a wild ride! If you have ideas, then I am open to them! I always am.**

 **Anyway take care folks, and I'll catch you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Alright folks here we go! Another chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic! The unthinkable has occurred; a major Terrorist Cell has struck, and struck hard, over the course of one night, every single Blue Mermaid Force in the East Indies has been completely destroyed; thus leaving the sea lanes unprotected and vulnerable against Pirates however, this also means that with the Professionals wiped out, there is nothing to stand in the way of the Kraken Fleet from conquering the East Indies, or is there?**

 **Well it's time to find out; as we weigh anchor and sail into the chapter!**

* * *

 _Manila Philippines_

 _United States Junior Naval Academy, Asiatic Flotilla_

 _Following Admiral Travis Riggs_

"What do I do? I mean, we leave. This whole region will likely fall. We stay, it's almost certain death. The thing is, I know some ships will want to stay. Just to protect the civilians we are going to be leaving at the mercy of these bastards. Yet they know that is likely a death sentence. That these motherfuckers will hunt down and destroy anyone who dares to oppose them." Admiral Riggs growled, his voice low and angry at the cowardly move that these terrorist bastards had done. However Riggs had to admit, it had been a rather smart move; destroy those who would likely give you the most trouble in one fell swoop and boom, the task of taking over an area has just become a lot easier.

"I agree sir; yet how are we going to tackle this problem? I mean, hell the _Texas_ came through that assault that these bastards subjected Manila too with only minor structural damage, and a pair of _Wickes_ -class Destroyers as well as a _Clemson_ -class actually got underway and did engage the enemy with guns and torpedoes. They were the reason that big bastard of a Battleship retired early. They managed to put at least three maybe as many as five torpedoes into it. I now have students asking if they can repaint there ships. Make them harder to spot and zero in using rangefinders. I didn't know how to answer that question, sir." Captain Ruben Weeks said, as he nodded vigorously in agreement.

"That comes as a surprise. Granted we were all running for the shelters, what were the ships that got underway and engaged the enemy?" Admiral Riggs asked curiously.

"The _Pope_ was the _Clemson_ -class and the two _Wickes_ -class were the _Walker_ and the _Mahan_. Let me tell you, when those ships came back in, nursing some battle damage. They were greeted by about everyone who saw those ships heading out. Hell, the people of Manila were grateful for the intervention by those three ships, the actions of those three hundred and twenty-two students saved a lot of lives. The Skippers of those destroyers have also written a pretty good after action reports. They are pretty sure that they crippled that Battleship, plus they think they sunk two enemy destroyers and possibly scored a hit with a torpedo on a enemy Heavy Cruiser. To be frank sir, I believe them; judging by the amount of crud we found in the water in the vicinity of were our boys engaged the enemy, we think that they sunk at least two enemy destroyers maybe more." Weeks said, as he looked up from his iPad.

" _Walker_ , _Mahan_ , and _Pope_ eh? Alright, I want to have those crews commended for bravery and excellence in the face of enemy fire. Because without them, it would have been so much worse." Riggs said with a sigh.

"Sir, with all due respect. How are we going to handle this? A lot of our students sees Manila as their home. The fact that is, it has been attacked, well I don't know about you, but I see Manila as my home as well, and with respect sir I am pretty fucking pissed off about it, I want to find those bastards and make them pay for attacking my home city!" Weeks growled out, gritting his teeth.

"Mr. Weeks; I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yet how can we figure out how is going to stay if anyone and who isn't? Because something tells me that we will have ships whose crews are going to want to stay and fight." Riggs asked.

Weeks was about to open his mouth when suddenly there was a sharp knock on the door. "Come in!" Riggs barked loud enough to be heard through the door.

"Sir! We've had a development!" Kayden Pearson said as she burst into the room, holding a piece of paper in her hand. She looked horrified at something that had occurred.

"What is it Ms. Pearson? Out with it!" Riggs demanded sharply.

"Sir, according to a radio message we just received from Task Force Sword. They actually picked up a mayday call from the Singaporean Blue Mermaid Ship the _Stalwart_. Task Force Sword as well as a large British Royal Maritime Academy Force answered the distress call. Task Force Sword arrived first on the scene right as the _Stalwart_ was sunk. But not before the Stealth Frigate put an enemy battlecruiser out of action using her Harpoon Missiles. Task Force Sword engaged the enemy. Sinking two _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruisers, an _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser, a _Giussano_ -class Light Cruiser, and two _Mogador_ -class Destroyers. While the Singaporean Blumer Patrol Ships killed quite a few enemy destroyers as well. By the time the enemy called it quits and fled, they only had three _Mogador_ -class Destroyers left. However we got hurt pretty badly. The _Nome_ suffered heavy damage, most of her casemate guns on one side were knocked out, three of her funnels have been pretty badly shredded and one was completely shot away, the _Cole_ took a couple of hits, but nothing major, the same goes for the _Ingraham_ , the _Paul Jones_ , and _Whippie_. The same also applies to the _Tokoro_ she suffered a couple of hits, she has a hole in her funnel, two of her AA gun mounts destroyed, and a couple of hits in the hull but nothing major. However the Battlecruiser that we sank, shelled the living hell out of the _Silverton_ , she blew up and the _Durango_ was so heavily damaged after that fight with that _Zao_ -class that Captain Higgins of the _Nome_ made the decision to scuttle her; the _Tokoro_ finished her off with torpedoes. Before you ask, we lost nineteen students in the action and suffered at least eighty injured. Also, Task Force Sword will be arriving with a large British Royal Maritime Academy Force, callsign Force Z. We will have to make some room so those British Ships as well as possible Dutch and Australian High School Ships can dock." Pearson said in tone that said she was horrified by what had transpired during the night. It was horrible, nineteen American Junior Naval Academy Students killed in action, when they had their whole lives ahead of them.

"I have tried alerting the Navy after we found out about the attacks, but we couldn't get a Satcom connection and cellphone connection has become spotty. However, we must get the USN involved. American Students have been killed. Someone find me the commander of the _Sealion_ SS-195, I want him in my office in fifteen minutes. I have a mission in mind for the _Sealion_ and her crew, they are going to depart and make a dash for Guam; specifically Naval Base Guam. Once they arrive there, they are going to deliver a message, explaining our situation and the fact that it may have degraded in the time that the _Sealion_ was at sea. Either way, we need support and we need badly." Riggs said as he came up with a cunning plan to let the USN know about the situation that was happening here in the Malay Barrier.

"Yessir!" Pearson said as she fired off a quick salute, which Riggs returned, she then spun on her heel and then left the room, probably to go and tell the secretary to make an announcement over the intercom.

Riggs sighed, in light of this; he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with Thomas Higgins, the boy knew what he was doing and he had a kind heart. Yet the fact that he led his task force which was composed of old and outdated ships, against an enemy with modern ships in terms of 40s era design. It was little wonder that his task force was thrashed. This was the first time in nearly thirty-five years that there had been fatalities in an American High School Fleet battle, sure there was always wounded, when engaging in ship to ship combat they were bound to happen. Yet fatalities? Those were incredibly rare, considering the fact that the United States Junior Naval Academies used four layer of protection, with three layers built into the ship and the fourth worn by students when in combat, hats were exchanged for Enhanced Combat Helmets and Dragon Skin Ballistic Vests were doned to protect students from flying shrapnel. However this time, it wasn't enough, plain and simple, students had been killed, ironically coming to save the professionals from a situation they couldn't handle instead of the otherway around.

At least the damage that the Singaporean Blue Mermaids had suffered while it was extreme, it wasn't total, but it was _near_ as _dammit_ to total. The Singaporean Blue Mermaids had only the RSS _Archer_ , that was the only submarine out of the four that they had to survive the destruction of the Submarine Pens, by some miracle all four of the _Endurance_ -class Landing Platform Docks, beside that the _Independence_ -class Littoral Combat Ship RSS _Dauntless_ plus the two old _Fearless_ -class Patrol Boats RSS _Freedom_ and RSS _Brave_ were the only surviving ships that the Singaporean Blue Mermaids had left. They were down to just eight ships.

"When is Task Force Sword going to return?" Riggs asked, he needed to know when said Task Force was going to return.

"Within two days, sir." Weeks said crisply.

"Good to hear! Dismissed!" Riggs replied. Weeks nodded, snapped off a salute which Riggs returned, he then spun on his heel and walked out of the room. Riggs then set to work writing the message that the _Sealion_ would have to deliver.

"Come!" Riggs barked and then the door opened and Ms. Pearson and James K. Morrison Jr, the commander of the United State Junior Naval Academy Submarine _Sealion_ walked in. The _Sealion_ was one of the most capable submarines that the United States Junior Naval Academy, she was solid, dependable, and reliable.

Lt. James K. Morrison Jr. was an eighteen year old man, hailing from Tuscaloosa Louisiana. He stood at 5 feet 3 and half inches in height, he had short blonde hair and sea green eyes, he was wearing simple dungarees.

"Lieutenant James K. Morrison Jr. Reporting for duty, sir!" Morrison said as he delivered a textbook salute. As did Ms. Pearson as well.

"At ease, both of you." Riggs said and they both relaxed.

"Sir? What do you need me for?" Morrison asked, his voice curious.

"Lt. Morrison, you are going to take your boat and sally forth and deliver an important message to Naval Base Guam. This message explains the situation that has developed here and the fact that we need help, it also explains that some of us are going to likely stay behind despite the fact that most of us are going to be leaving, heading toward them and that they are doing it because, while it is not the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do. A casualty list is also going to be attached as well. Morrison, this is a critical situation, get to Guam at all costs. Dismissed!" Riggs said, handing Morrison the note.

"Sir Yes Sir! You can count on me!" Morrison said, he then spun on his heel and double timed march out of the office and then after he closed the door, you could hear the young man, break into a sprint as he likely sprinted for his boat, and to get her ready to get under way.

"Thank you Ms. Pearson for getting Lt. Morrison. Something tells me, that we are going to lose a lot more students before help finally arrives. I don't like it. If anything I fucking hate it." Riggs said, Pearson had nothing to say, but she did nod in agreement.

* * *

 **** ** _Aboard the_** **Tokoro**

 _Following Misaki Akeno_

Sleep did not come easy for Akeno. For every time she closed her eyes, she was back in the middle of that horrific action. The screams of the wounded and the dying filled the air, the city of Singapore as well as some areas of water burning, and the thunder of guns tearing the air apart with their thunderous discharges. She simply couldn't sleep.

 _What would my mother think? I have thorough my orders to my crew, likely killed people._ Akeno thought as she held her head in her hands and wept softly as the reality of what herself and her crew had just gone through began to hit home.

How long had she been simply sitting there, crying; she didn't know. However she had remembered to close the door for the voice tube. Yet, it still hurt, knowing that she had likely ended lives today. How could she, make her way through this, without suffering a mental breakdown?

"Captain?" A voice said, without even knowing, Akeno knew it was Mashiro. She had to be concerned for her.

"Yes Shiro-chan?" Akeno said looking up.

"How are you holding up?" Mashiro asked, her voice tender and filled with caring.

"Not well Shiro-chan. I mean, I have come to the realization, that by giving out the orders that I did. That I have likely taken lives. It's tearing me up inside." Akeno said bitterly, she sounded heartbroken and as if she didn't know what to do next.

"I know, and in light of that. I talked via Talk Between Ships to Oscar on the _Cole_. He had a few interesting things to say. However, the gist of what he was saying, was basically; if someone is actively trying to hurt you, or your crew, or is trying to sink your ship. It's alright to take action, even if said action involves the use of lethal force. To be frank, I agree with him; I mean it's still rattling but, we need you Captain. We need you to lead us through this." Mashiro said.

"I know you need me; yet I can't bear to think how I will take the loss of a friend on the _Tokoro_ ; if even one member of her crew dies. I will never forgive myself. Yet, thinking about that now, will just drag me down even more. I think we will stay Shiro-chan. Because even with the help that we got, from the Brits and hopefully the Dutch and the Aussies; they will still need all the help we can get." Akeno said as stood up, grabbed her hat and then looked at the wall mounted chronometer and grimaced. She had gotten roughly two hours of sleep.

"Let's head up to the bridge. I need to make an important announcement to the crew. They need to know what has transpired and what my decision is and that I won't blame them if they decide to leave." Akeno stated as she began to walk to the bridge.

"Yes Captain; however, afterward I want you to really get some sleep. The last thing we need is our captain to be dead on her feet from exhaustion." Mashiro said as she followed Akeno, who nodded in response.

After several minutes of walking, going up a few ladders, they arrived on the bridge. With a sigh, Akeno opened the ship wide speaking tube door and began speaking into it. "Attention all hands, attention all hands. This is your captain speaking. Last night, while we were defending Singapore from enemy attack, Blumer bases and ships throughout the Malay Barrier were hit and hit hard by unknown forces, damage to Blumer forces across the Malay Barrier is nearly total, almost nothing is left to defend the sea lanes of this region from pirates, raiders, etc; this also means that almost nothing is left to perform rescues and to help those in need. However, several High School Fleet ships, a lot of them in fact have decided that they are going to stay and do the duties that the Blue Mermaids usually do. I have decided to stay and help them, however, whether or not you decide to stay or not is totally up to you. I don't care if you stay or not, but I am staying, to lend a helping hand. That is all." Akeno said, her voice filled with determination.

"I don't know about you, but I am staying as well Captain." Rin said, her voice filled with solid determination.

"I am with you too captain." Mei said, in a similar tone that Rin had used.

"Aye!" Tama said as she held up an 'OK' hand signal.

"I am with you too! For despite the fact that who knows what lies ahead!" Kouko said, with a tremendous amount of energy and determination in her voice.

" _Captain! If you're staying, then we are staying as well! I mean we faced down the_ Musashi _and won. So whoever these guys are, they probably can't be that much worse! Anyway, were staying as well._ " Maron said, her voice filled with stout determination.

" _Skipper, we're with you too!"_ Irako said and words of agreement quickly came from the rest of the ship as the rest of the crew of the _Tokoro_ agreed to stay with their captain.

A few minutes later, a flurry of signal flags went screeching up the halyard on the _Nome_. The set of signals explained for all ships to make preparations to get underway. Soon, the combined force that was Task Force Sword and Force Z were churning the waters, making rotations for twenty knots as they powered toward Manila. Where they would find out what they were going to do in response to this growing crisis. They were sailing along the coast of Borneo when radar picked up multiple contacts moving as a big cluster straight towards them; however the locator beacons sent off signals, revealing the group to be a combined Dutch and Australian Group of High School Fleet ships. Through a flurry of signals, they explained that they had tried to make Australia but, had been forced to turn around, after they found that every single strait was blockaded by powerful Naval Ships, ones that would give the _Prince of Wales_ a real fight; thus forcing them to turnaround.

The group was entirely made up of cruisers and destroyers. Sadly there was only one Heavy Cruiser among them, however they quickly and easily joined up with the group. Most of the ships were Dutch, with the following ships, cruisers _De Ruyter_ , _Tromp_ , _Java_ , and destroyers _Van Ghent_ , _Eversten_ , _Kortenator_ , _Piet Hein_ , _Witte de With_ , _Van Nes_ , _Banckert_ and the Australian Ships were as follows cruisers _Sydney_ , _Perth_ , and _Adelaide_ , destroyers _Scott_ , _Voyager_ , _Vampire_ , _Vendetta_ , and _Waterhen_ , and sloops _Yarra_ and _Swan_.

All told, it wasn't much, but it would help. Besides an extra Heavy Cruiser was nice. All told the numbers that they were going to be able to field was One Dreadnought Battleship, one Fast Battleship, one Battlecruiser, four Heavy Cruisers, nine Light Cruisers, two Armored Cruisers, two Protected Cruisers, one Unique Cruiser, a shit ton of destroyers, two Sloops of War, plus quite a number of submarines as well.

* * *

 _Manila_

The appearance of so many High School Fleet Ships, as well as several High School Admin ships as they arrived at Manila was simply incredible. However, the one thing that had all of them stunned, was the sheer devastation that Manila had suffered.

Numerous buildings were simply shattered wrecks, they had been leveled and in the case of a good number of the floating ones, simply sunk. The smashed remains of the ships of the Philippines Blue Mermaids was quite a disheartening sight to see; for the ships had been ruthlessly torn apart by shell fire and torpedoes. It also appeared that cluster munitions were used, judging by the damage on some of the ships.

However, to the amazement of all, a _Wickes_ -class Destroyer appeared, her hull bearing some signs of damage. Several holes were visible in her hull, smoke streamed from several holes in her four slender funnels. Yet the destroyer carried her wounds with pride, it was a badge of honor, a sign that she had engaged something and come back in one piece.

"What Destroyer is that?" Rin asked, as she looked at the destroyer.

"Judging by her number. It's the _Walker_ , a _Wickes_ -class Destroyer. Looks like she has seen some action recently." Kouko said as she caught a glimpse of her number.

"Looks like they are going to be taking us into the harbor in groups." Akeno said as she saw a flurry of signals that and the fact that the TBS squawked and gave a series of instructions for several ships to follow her in, but for no others and that other Destroyers were to come out and guide them in.

Sure enough, shortly after the _Walker_ departed, leading the _Prince_ _of Wales_ , _Repulse_ , _Nome_ , _Sydney_ , _Cole_ , and _Whippie_ into port. The _Pope_ and the _Peary_ soon appeared and they each began to shuttle in another group of ships of similar size.

Before long, all of the ships were in port, tied up at Quay's. Repair Crews were swarming all over the ships that had been damaged, the _Nome_ was being guided by two tugs into a drydock for major repairs. She was going to need them.

* * *

 _The Next Day_

The next morning all students were told to report to the Gym, which was really a retired Zeppelin Hangar which meant that space was massive, large enough to hold everyone in four long lines. With enough space between them for each person to take one step forward. A stage had been set up in the center. With a podium on the stage. It was clear that the major choice of either to stay and fight or to flee and live another day was going to be made today.

Suddenly Admiral Travis Riggs and a few other school faculty members from several other region schools stepped up. They all exchanged a few words and then they came to an agreement about something, and then Admiral Riggs stepped up to the podium.

"Good morning." Riggs said, but the microphone wasn't on and thus only a few students heard him. Cursing under his breath, he flicked the thing on.

"Good morning!" Riggs said, his voice amplified by the Sound System that was in place. "As you know, disaster has struck the Malay Barrier Region. Two nights ago, a force of unknown origins and affiliation struck various Blue Mermaid Bases across the Malay Barrier Region with devastating results. The damage to most Blue Mermaid Forces, is completely and utterly total, with very few ships surviving as for Personnel large numbers have been either killed, wounded, or are missing. It is such, that we are realistically, the only group that can stand up to these bastards. Let them know, that we won't let them roll in and take over the area unopposed, we are going to fight back, not just for our own safety, but for the safety of those who can't fight back, we will be fighting for freedom of the seas, for the right to have to sail these waters without fear! If your are willing to undertake this plan of action, please take one step forward!" Riggs boomed, his voice filled with the sort of thundering, commanding, tone that only a Rear Admiral could deliver.

To the surprise of all, the whole building was filled with a schrynoized thunder, as every single last student in the room; took one step forward. Because to them, they were doing more than protecting the Freedom of the seas, they were going to be protecting loved ones who had decided to move so they could have family close by, or in a few cases there homeland.

"Damn good to see, man your ships! I want all ships ready to sortie on a moment's notice, because at the moment, we are going to be a Quick-Reaction Force. Submariners, I will be handing out patrol orders personally; we need to find out what sort of flag these bastards use, as well as what sort of ships they use, that way we know what we are up against in terms of capabilities for enemy ships. However some of you will be going on long range patrols, we need to find enemy bases of operations and hit them, and hit them _hard_! Make them realize that while we are just students, we won't go quietly into the night and we sure as hell won't let them take over this region without fight!" Riggs boomed.

The meeting broke up after that, with numerous students going in every which way, mainly to get there ships ready for battle. Which meant, that the Linoleum Floors were ripped out, the teak decks were ripped out, mahogany wood paneling in ship bridges were yanked out, the main fire hazards on ships were removed if they could remove them. Others were thinking how to make their ships less visible, most importantly, practice rounds were removed from the magazines on ships, and for students on the United States Marine Corps, Royal Marines, and Korps Mariniers fast track, they removed the majority of the less-than-lethal rounds and replaced them with live ammo; so that way, if ships were ever boarded, it would be easier to defend the ship. These were done to prepare the ships for war.

Another thing that happened, was the fact that the Principals of three of the schools got together and discussed possibilities, tactics, and most importantly who should be in charge. They came to the agreement that Dutch Blue Mermaid Admiral, a three star named Doorman would be in charge of all Naval Forces, with Riggs in second in command; while overall commands would be sorted out later, they also agreed, with survivors from various Blue Mermaid Commanders that the modern ships they had left, would rarely be deployed with the exception of the submarines.

The defense command for the Malay Barrier, was going to be called the Malay Barrier Combined Defense Command. It was going to be tough going and victory wasn't even a given. Whenever they were going to sally forth, they were going to have to give it their all in order to not only survive, but also win.

* * *

 _Somewhere in the Pacific_

 _40 Meters below the waves_

 _USS_ Sealion _SS-195_

 _Lt. James K. Morrison Jr. Commanding_

"Sonar contact! Bearing 015! Range 10,000! Possible Submarine!" The sonar operator on board the _Sealion_ barked as she heard the distinctive churning whirl of screws biting into the water. The reason that the _Sealion_ was submerged was because a Light Cruiser, a _Giussano_ -class had taken an interest in their well being, and had opened fire on them. They had been forced to dive, and had managed to give the enemy ship the slip, but had decided to transit the Luzon Strait submerged, they had just finished via snorkeling, recharged their batteries and were set for a good amount of time submerged.

"Alright! Let's tiptoe around this guy; rig ship for Silent Running!" Morrison ordered tersely. He didn't know if the possible submarine that was out there had detected them, or if it was hostile. Better be safe than sorry, Morrison figured. Rigging a boat for Silent Running meant that noise was kept to a bare minimum, if the crew had to speak, it was nothing more than a whisper, anything that would create a large amount of noise like cooking for example was ceased and sandwiches were the only thing that was made to eat, engine speed was also reduced, to avoid cavitation which was something that submariners hated as it created a hell of a lot of noise, not to mention it created vibration which was another thing submariners hated, not to mention it was hard on propellers before metallurgy got better the screws for a submarine were bolted together rather than cast in one piece.

"The contact is changing its aspect. She's coming around, bearing 018, now closing, range 9,500. Contact sounds like a _Foxtrot_ -class Submarine." The sonar operator said in a sharp whisper.

That caused Morrison to raise an eyebrow in surprise. A _Foxtrot_ -class? All the way out here? Somewhere in the goddamn Luzon Strait? That simply didn't make any sense. What the hell was a _Foxtrot_ -class doing out here? Sure, they had the range, surfaced at 8 knots they could cover 20,000 goddamn Nautical Miles, they could almost sail around the world on one tank of gas.

Yet the thing that had Morrison worried the most, was the fact that a _Foxtrot_ -class carried some nasty torpedoes, twenty-two nasty torpedoes in fact, capable of being fired from either 6 forward tubes or 4 aft tubes. At best that thing could fire SET-53s or SET-53Ms at them, which were ASW Passive Acoustic Homing Torpedoes; which had a range of 8,750 yards at 23 knots and 15,300 yards at 29 knots respectively, these torpedoes packed a 220 pound warhead; which meant they were bad news. At worst that thing could fire TEST-71 ASW Torpedoes, these things were Wire-guided Torpedoes, active and passive acoustic homing; this monster had a range of depending on speed 16,400 yards at 40 knots or 27,300 yards at 35 knots, to make matters worse, the warhead that these things packed was a tremendously powerful 452 pound warhead. The bottom line, that thing decided to open fire with torpedoes, the _Sealion_ stood almost no chance. Mainly because the majority of her torpedo loadout was mostly Mark 16 Torpedoes. Which, while the Mark 16 was an excellent surface ship killing torpedo, it lacked guidance systems, apart from the ye olde Mark 12 Mod 3 Gyroscope, however, the _Sealion_ packed four very impressive surprises, two aft and two forward, these torpedoes were Mark 29s, and were again Anti-Ship Torpedoes, but they packed a Passive Acoustic Homing, which meant despite the fact that they were short range, they _could_ get the job done, _if_ the _Sealion_ got into a _good position_.

Suddenly and without warning, the sound that all submariners dreaded resounded through the _Sealion_ 's hull. A sharp _PONG!_ That reverberated through the hull, an active sonar blast, and it had hit them dead on. "Shit!" Morrison growled.

A few moments later, a surprised terrified report came from the Sonar Operator. "Transient! Transient! Transient! The bastard has opened his torpedo tubes! Wait! FUCK! Transient! Transient! Torpedoes in the water! Two torpedoes! Bearing 019, range 9,000 and closing! They are SET-53Ms!" She barked sharply.

"FUCK!" Morrison snarled. "General Quarters! Secure from Silent Running! Rig ship for depth charge! All ahead flank! Bring us about! Bearing 270! Snapshot! Tubes one and two! Peg him! Designate that bastard Master One!" He yelled.

Instantly all thoughts of sneaking by had gone out the fucking window, now it was time to do what American Submarines did when torpedoes were running and they weren't friendly; and that was go somewhere else fast. The screw noise increased dramatically, and the boat began to swing around, at the sametime two sharp shrieks rent the air inside the _Sealion_ as a pair of gleaming Mark 16s shot out of their tubes and screamed back on the bearing that the _Foxtrot_ 's torpedoes was on; however the chances of hitting a _Foxtrot_ which would be maneuvering to evade the _Sealion_ 's torpedoes, which were straight-running torpedoes was slim to none. Not to mention, it was a snapshot, which meant that no TMA had been done, they had just fired the damn things.

Worse, the matchup was down right horrible. _Foxtrot_ -class vs. _Sargo_ -class, it was David vs. Goliath, except Goliath was wearing Knight Armor.

Time went by slowly it seemed as the four torpedoes raced toward their respective targets, the _Foxtrot_ was wildly maneuvering to evade the two Mark 16s that were screaming back toward them. Yet, lady luck was smiling on the _Sealion_ because, neither SET-53M acquired the _Sargo_ -class and could home in on her. First contact had occurred, and the _Foxtrot_ held all the cards; it was way newer than the _Sealion_ in terms of design the _Sargo_ -class with the _Sealion_ being a 1930s era design and the _Foxtrot_ being a 50s era design, it was faster submerged, the _Sealion_ at flank could barely crack 9 knots while the _Foxtrot_ could do 16 knots submerged, she had much greater endurance the _Sealion_ submerged while the _Sealion_ could remain submerged even with her improved _Sargo_ -cell Batteries for 70 hours at 2 knots submerged, the _Foxtrot_ could stay submerged for days at a decent speed. The _Foxtrot_ 's weapons were more lethal. Bottomline they couldn't win.

Or could they? The _Sealion_ did have several advantages compared to the _Foxtrot_ , one she lighter in terms of displacement despite being longer than the _Foxtrot_ , which meant that the _Sealion_ was more agile to a degree than the _Foxtrot_ , the _Sealion_ was also shorter in terms of height when compared to a _Foxtrot_ -class, meaning that dodging torpedoes was easier in the _Sealion_ than the _Foxtrot_ -class. This meant that if they could get within knife fighting range, they _could_ win.

Another thing, Morrison had been practicing a new underwater maneuver for use against Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts, Corvettes, and Frigates; basically ASW Ships. He had run it by his close friend, who was hoping to become a Submariner just like he was, right now he was commanding a _Gato_ -class and had earned a bit of a reputation as being able to turn the tables on Destroyers in an instant, including in one incident a DDG, one Commander Samuel D. Dealey. Anyway, Dealey said that "It could work, but you would need to be absolutely perfect with your timing otherwise you're screwed."

"Bring us in, back toward the initial contact point, we need to reacquire that _Foxtrot_! He can outrun us, and the last thing we need is for him to appear in our baffles." Morrison said, as he wiped some sweat from his brow.

"Yessir!" The helmsman said as he guided the _Sealion_ in taking the submarine closer to the initial contact point with that Hostile Submarine. It was slow going, but hopefully, the _Foxtrot_ -class had decided to bug out. But it was not to be.

" _SHIT!_ Torpedo in the water! Bearing 320! Range 17,300! Speed 35 knots! It's a TEST-71!" The sonar operator yelled in shock as another torpedo came screaming toward the _Sealion_ , but this time. They probably had them dead to rights. For this torpedo was a Wire-Guided ASW Torpedo with Active/Passive Acoustic Homing capability, and if the thing got within 880 yards of them, they were dead meat as that thing would acquire them and end them, plain and simple.

"Bring us about! Get us pointed away from that thing! Ahead Flank!" Morrison bellowed sharply and with sharp, quick fluid motions from the helmsman the _Sealion_ came about and began to accelerate to her submerged flank speed of 9 knots, but Morrison knew, that they were _not_ going to out maneuver this fish nor out run it. Not unless he did something drastic; however what he had in mind was stupendously stupid and crazy; not mention drastic. _But_ _it could work_ , the key word being _could_.

"Sonar, keeping giving me range to enemy torpedo! Helmsman when I tell you too. Pull a sharp a turn to port as you can do, to bring us about 180 degrees. Weps, when we get halfway through that turn, launch noisemakers. Helm after we are through that turn, slow us down to five knots, and get us below the layer. We are going to back track that _Foxtrot_ -class, once we cover the distance. Bring us back up above the layer, in knife fighting range of that bastard. At which point Weps, you are going to slam, two Mark 29s into his goddamned side!" Morrison ordered sharply.

"Yessir!" The Helmsman said.

"Sir yes sir!" The Weapons officer said, before giving orders to get the countermeasures ready.

"Yes sir! Range to torpedo! 10,000…9,500…9,000…8,500…8,000…7,500…7,000…6,500!"

However little did the crew of the _Sealion_ know, but once the torpedo got within 7,000 meters, the _Foxtrot_ -class had cut wires on the torpedo, leaving it, to it's own devices, this would prove critical, in what the _Sealion_ was about to do.

"NOW! HARD TO PORT! BRING US ABOUT!" Morrison ordered sharply, and the _Sealion_ went into a screaming left hand turn. As the submarine through the maneuver "Fire countermeasures!" Weps yelled aft, there was two muffled _chooms_ as two Noisemakers were discharged.

"Take her down below the layer! Make your depth 70 meters!" Morrison said as the _Sealion_ exited the turn and dove deeply, diving beneath the thermal layer.

"It worked! Hot damn! It worked! The torpedo, it's beginning to circle the noisemakers!" The sonar operator said, jubilantly as she heard the distinctive noise of the torpedo circling the noise maker trying to kill it. Everyone in CIC breathed a sigh of relief.

"Skipper, after we do this, we are going to have to surface. We are critically low on Battery power. This do or die." The Operations officer said.

"Understood." Morrison grunted out, damn this was becoming a, he glanced at his watch, hellish three hours now. With all the running they had done at flank, it was little wonder that they were low on battery charge.

"Captain, I am beginning to hear the _Foxtrot_ -class. We are just about directly below him. I can hear him, because he is blasting the area with his active sonar. Has painted the area around us pretty nicely, it's just us and him." The sonar operator said.

"Good! Bring us up!" Morrison growled. The diving officer complied bringing the _Sealion_ up quickly and carefully; not to mention quietly.

"Range?" Morrison asked.

"She's moving! She has definitely heard us! Range 2,500 meters! Bearing on the bow 030!" The sonar operator said, but with an inflection in her tone, that was filled immense satisfaction because at the range they were at, even a Mark 16 had a good chance of hitting.

"Tubes five and six! Fire!" Morrison roared.

"Tubes five and six! Fire!" The weapons officer echoed as she slammed the buttons that fired the two open torpedo tubes. Two shrieks of air reverberated through the hull. At this range, almost nothing had a chance of evading.

Two gleaming Mark 29 torpedoes came screaming out of their tubes and almost instantly acquired the _Foxtrot_ -class, even as it was turning away and going to flank. The two torpedoes bore in and both hit and exploded, the first one, tore a impressive wound into the submarine, rupturing a ballast tank, but not penetrating the pressure; however it raised hell inside the Pressure Hull of the submarine, sending everyone crashing to the deck and equipment flying as well. The other one scored a bullseye; slamming into the _Foxtrot_ near the engine spaces and rupturing the pressure hull a split second later, the tremendous roiling roar of a noise as the _Foxtrot_ imploded deafened the sonar operator and was heard by all on the _Sealion_ , as the enemy submarine was crushed, by the pressure at a depth of 45 meters, a hole in the pressure hull, caused the catastrophic failure of the submarine's hull.

Then the cheering started; they had done it! They had, against a submarine that was way more advanced than them, engaged in battle and _won_! Using good old American ingenuity, they had outsmarted the commander of the enemy _Foxtrot_ a submarine which, outclassed them in every way.

"Alright! Hot fucking damn! Bring us to the surface and open the hatches!" Morrison ordered, because it was a damn good day.

The _Sealion_ broke the surface and her hatches opened to begin to air the boat out, and the batteries began to be charged as the _Sealion_ went on her way toward Guam. They had succeeded, David had beaten Goliath; despite the fact that Goliath might as well had been a Knight. It was incredible. There were going to be more stories like this, before the crisis was over, tales of David going up against Goliath and winning, particularly when Goliath held all the cards, or thought he held all the cards.

* * *

 **AN: Done! There we go! Another exciting chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic has been completed. Also I have decided that I will alternate between Kancolle: New Friends, New World and Haifuri: Gone Asiatic; which means the next chapter I will post will be for Kancolle: New Friends, New World.**

 **If you have any ideas for either story that you want to run by me, fire me a PM; as always leave a review, not to mention fav and follow.**

 **Anyway take care folks, and I'll catch you next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: It's official, the Malay Barrier Defense Command has been formed! While not a lot stands in the way between the enemy and the people who call the Malay Barrier home. It is better than none at all. However, the question is, will it be enough to even** _ **delay**_ **the enemy advance?**

 **We shall find out in the upcoming chapters.**

 **With that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and set sail into the chapter.**

* * *

 _Manila Bay_

 _Manila_

 _The_ Tokoro

 _Following Wazumi Hime_

Wazumi Hime, Chief Damage Control Officer, as well as a Beautification Officer for the _Tokoro_ had just been given an interesting job, she had to paint the _Tokoro_ in such a fashion that she would be harder to detect with visual methods. Thus, ships were being repainted, the gleaming white, gold, and black paint jobs of the American High School Ships had to disappear; mainly because well, with that paint scheme, if an enemy ship got to within visual range, they would spot an American Ship fairly quickly, probably without rangefinders even and then using visual methods, would easily acquire and be able to engage them. Thus, the distinctive paint scheme needed to go.

As a result, someone had found a book dating back to 40s, that was filled with various camouflage measures. Most of them wouldn't work, however Measures 31, 32, and 33, plus Measure 9 for the submarines were decided that it would work.

"Hime-chan? How are we going to paint the _Tokoro_?" Momo asked as she looked at the various camouflage schemes, and couldn't figure out what to paint the _Tokoro_ in.

"I like the look of Camouflage Measure 31 Design 16; looks pretty good and besides the point, we will be unique as it says here it is for American _Allen M. Sumner_ -class Destroyers and considering how we are similar in size to those things. It makes the most sense for us anyway. However it says, that the colors we will need are Haze Grey 5-H, Ocean Grey 5-O, Dull Black BK, and Deck Blue 20-B. So alrighty then, let's get crackin!" Wazumi said, a noticeable smile on her face.

"Alright! I will go let the requisitions officer, know!" Momo said with a nod as she stood up and sprinted to the gangway and then down it. So she could get large quantities of paint, and that way the beautification team could get to work repainting the _Tokoro_.

Knowing that was done, Hime-chan went forward to go to the bridge to let Akeno know that they had decided on a paint scheme that they were going to be painting the _Tokoro_ an interesting mix of colors, while the colors were dull in terms of luminance, but they would do a different purpose, which was disrupting and breaking up the _Tokoro_ 's outline at range. Despite that fact that the enemy was most likely going to be using radar directed gunfire control systems, they had to have optics for close in work or to use as a backup in case they lost the fire control radar. Still it was better than nothing.

* * *

 _Commissary_

 _Following Rin_

Rin was nervous, really nervous. Mainly because she had to be fitted for a Dragon Skin Ballistic Vest and a Combat Helmet. Which were to be worn whenever they went into combat against the enemy for quote "One final line of protection against flying shrapnel and fragments" unquote.

She didn't like the look of the ballistic vest, plus it was undoubtedly heavy and the same was true for the helmet. However, the additional protection that the Dragon Skin Ballistic Vest provided was likely pretty good, particularly considering it's design.

"Nervous?" A voice asked behind her. Rin turned around and saw that it was Captain Blinn, the commander of the _Pope_. He stood roughly 5 feet 8 inches in height, he had short curly red hair, and brown eyes. He was roughly 17 years old. He was wearing a Navy Service Uniform.

"A bit, I just don't know if the ballistic vests and combat helmets we will be getting will provide protection against flying shrapnel and fragments. Not to mention is the thing heavy?" Rin said.

Blinn chuckled. "Rin, the Ballistic Vests that we wear when we enter combat are extraordinarily tough, arguably the best in the world. Hell, you can riddle those things with steel-core 7.62x39mm AP rounds and they would have a tough time penetrating a Dragon Skin Ballistic Vest. As for how heavy the thing is, it's about 6.4 pounds, but it is composed of two-inch wide circular disks that overlap with each other; the result is a rather flexible vest that is extremely tough. The discs themselves are made of silicon carbide ceramic matrices and laminates and are covered by Kevlar covers, providing even more protection. It would take one hell of a fragment to get through it. Considering that it can absorb 7.62x39mm like a sponge and even protect the user against the fragments from the point blank detonation of a grenade. As for the helmet, it is extremely lightweight, yet stupendously durable. It's made out of thermoplastics and is nearly impenetrable to fragments. So don't worry, the equipment is very tough." Blinn said with smile.

"Really?" Rin asked surprised at the fact that the Dragon Skin Ballistic Vest was extremely tough.

"Yep, really. Biggest fragment we have ever found in a Dragon Skin vest, was a shell fragment from an enemy battleship main gun HC round, it missed the destroyer it was fired at, but still sent fragments everywhere. Biggest piece that actually hit someone, was something about the size of a One Dollar Coin, it smacked the commander of the _Mahan_ right in the torso, totaled the vest, but it stopped the fragment. Let's just say he is, currently pretty damn sore from the shock of that impacting. He has a heck of a bruise, but is grateful to be alive." Blinn said.

Rin's eyes widened in surprise, that was insanity, to survive a fragment of that size hitting you, even with a vest. That just simply _had to hurt_.

Filled with new confidence; Rin walked up and had the proper measurements taken and then given a Vest and a Helmet. The things were a little heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle.

It wasn't long before she found Kouko who looked, interesting with her Ballistic Vest on, she was fumbling with the strap to secure her helmet to her head. "Koko-chan, we don't have to wear the Ballistic Vest or the Combat Helmet when we aren't in combat or even on board the _Tokoro_." Rin said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Well I am just checking to see if they will fit!" Kouko replied.

"That I can understand, but you don't need to secure the helmet to your head so securely, rather loosely would probably due, just enough to be secure, but not impossibly tight." Rin said and Kouko shot her a look, but sighed and then nodded with agreement.

The two left the Commissary and started to head back to the _Tokoro_ and were fairly surprised to see a large truck filled with what had to be paint buckets rumble by. It was heading in the direction of the quay where the _Tokoro_ was tied up.

"You nervous about what we are likely going to go through?" Rin asked.

"Not really nervous, but then again we haven't departed on any missions yet. However, that might change as time goes on." Kouko replied.

"Okay, makes sense, I guess I shouldn't have a reason to be worried about what could transpire, save that for when it does happen. Besides, our captain will do everything in her power to make sure that we all come back alive." Rin said.

Kouko nodded in agreement.

When they arrived at the _Tokoro_ , they found the ship was being worked purposefully. Her dark grey paint job and the red stripe were in the process of disappearing quickly as both yard teams and crew members of the _Tokoro_ worked furiously. Chipping away at paint and getting the ship ready for her new paint job. The quickly boarded the _Tokoro_ and then went to bridge to store their ballistic vests and combat helmets. They found that Tama and Mei had also gotten fitted for ballistic Vests and Helmets. Not to mention they saw Akeno and Mashiro departing the _Tokoro_ to get fitted for Ballistic Vests and Combat Helmets.

As the day went on, and the paint job the _Tokoro_ had sported when she had first arrived at Manila Bay disappeared and new paint was applied to her. It wouldn't be long before she was ready for battle. The only thing that was kept, was the emblem of the school on the funnel.

* * *

 _USS_ Seadragon _SS-194_

 _Lt. Jack Hunt Commanding_

The _Seadragon_ was making a foray into the Indian Ocean, because, one she had the range and two her commanding officer, Lt. Jack Hunt had a feeling that whoever the hell these bastards were, they likely had bases in the Indian Ocean. They had to find the soft underbelly for these bastards and exploit the hell out of it. Because if you destroyed an enemy's logistics capability and you basically win the war.

Yet, the trick was they needed to find the soft underbelly so they could use it accordingly. His orders were to reconnoiter Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands, plus if possible check out Ceylon which had been affected the worst by the tectonic shift, almost completely disappearing from the map. Thus, this mission was critical in finding the soft underbelly of the enemy. So they could hammer it.

When they investigated Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands, they actually didn't find anything of interest. Doubling back, they stopped at Singapore for a quick refit to top off the tank. However, when they arrived at Ceylon, they found something amazing.

For the most part, the island had sunk, with only the mountains really staying above the surface. Now however, the total landmass had increased by 25 square kilometers it terms of area on the northern part of the island and it was entirely concrete and steel. Large bustling shipyards rose, on each slipway, was the hull of a ship. They were all in various states of construction, some looked like Heavy Cruisers, some looked like Light Cruisers, two were tremendous battleships, one was a battlecruiser of some description, three were Landing Ships of some description, a bunch of destroyers, and one _absolute mother of a battleship_.

However, there was also a substantial port as well, Jack was able to pick out two Battlecruisers, four Heavy Cruisers, two Light Cruisers, seven Destroyers, three submarines, twenty merchants, plus various support ships. What caught his attention was the flag that the ships were flying.

The flag was dark red to such a degree that it was almost black also the flag had an uppercase "v" which was in bright blue, the edge of the "V" was embossed in bright silver, on either side of the "V" was a pair of lightning bolts in sharp gold. Whatever it meant, is was very distinctive as well, vastly different from any other flag in the world.

Jack made sure that he got that recorded, that was _vital_ intelligence, that needed to be known!

However, as the swung around to the southern part of Ceylon, they found something even more incredible and heart breaking as well. The area of the southern part had been increased as well, roughly 10 square kilometers or so judging by eye alone. The area was ringed by high fences topped with barbed wire, scattered throughout were towers, guard towers he realized, milling around the a central courtyard doing several things, were people, however Jack came to the horrible realization that they were POWs and he was looking at a POW Camp. Mainly because the POWs that were milling around wore Blue Mermaid Uniforms, but the various uniforms all had damage, from being fire signed to having tears in them.

This was place where the Blue Mermaids who were marked missing and weren't claimed by the sea had likely wound up. They needed to get out of here and alert the big boss ASAP, for a two fold mission. One do a devastating strike on the enemy port here and destroy their production capabilities for new ships and to launch a Liberation Mission as well, to free all of those POWs.

Realizing what they had discovered, the _Seadragon_ and her crew beat the hasty retreat, leaving area to deliver some very important news.

* * *

 _Manila_

 _On the_ Tokoro

 _Following Maron_

Maron was pretty nervous, mainly because someone from one of the American High School Fleet Destroyers was due to arrive and show them how to properly maintain the boilers, and that while automation is nice, it doesn't replace anything that requires hands on work, which was checking the water-tubes, the firebricks, and steam lines. Not to mention cleaning the boilers. It didn't help that the Chief Engineer who was coming, was from one of the three American High School Fleet Destroyers that had brilliantly defended Manila from enemy attack, and that meant he knew Boilers so well that he could likely take one apart and then put it back together again and make it _run_ absolutely _perfectly_. Combined with the fact, that the _Tokoro_ had recently been assigned a Bosun, who was in fact an American Student, and that he had initially been assigned to the _Texas_ , but had been transfered to give the _Tokoro_ an extra hand.

"Hiromi? What boilers do we have cold?" Maron asked Kuroi Hiromi, the _Tokoro_ 's assistant Engineer asked.

"Boilers one through four are cold, but boilers five through eight are hot, maintaining a constant pressure of 85 pounds." Hiromi replied.

"Good to know, when will our teacher arrive?" Maron asked.

"Should be any moment." Hiromi replied.

Meanwhile up on deck, the painting was going well, the new Bosun for the _Tokoro_ , Katrina Kirkland, had made it known, that she would help the damage control when needed. However, she also carried with her an immense amount of moral authority, to such a degree that even though in terms of hierarchy the heads of any of the various departments could give her orders, with the exception of the captain of course, no one really wanted too, because well, it would feel wrong to do so.

Painting was nearly done, the deck and most of the topsides were painted, now they were beginning to focus on painting the hull and pilothouse. It was amid this chaos, that the teacher for the Engineering Team arrived, he was carrying a pair of canvas bags and was wearing NWUs in place of the standard Junior Enlisted Uniform. His NWUs were pretty filthy, meaning that he was a Engineer and more to the point, the Chief Engineer of one of the destroyers. He first reported to Akeno and said what his purpose was and then he walked with a studious purpose, quickly finding the hatch that lead to the fire room down below decks.

Down below decks, in the engine spaces, Ise Sakura spotted there teacher first, once she spotted him and pointed him out. Maron sighed, it was time to begin. "Come on everyone, let's go meet him." She said and then she cycled herself into the boiler room proper via the airlock.

"Hello there, my name is Brad McFarlane, however, if you want, you can call me by my 'Navy' name of Spanky, I am the chief engineer on the USS _Walker_ DD-163. Now then, I am going to teach you how to properly maintain these boilers inside and out. By the time we are done, you are going to know how to replace firebrick, patch steam lines, patch water tubes, clean one out, and lastly blow the tubes clean. Now then let's get to work." He said, introducing himself, he was tall at 5 feet 11 inches tall, but was rather skinny, however he did appear to be rather strong, his short, curly, blonde hair had soot stains in it and he had blue eyes.

"Alright, I guess learning new things never hurts" Maron said as Spanky kicked open the hatch for Boiler 1. He then grabbed a maglite LED flashlight, turned it on and shone it inside the boiler and looked inside of it.

"Looks like some of the firebrick will have to be replaced, probably due to the hits you took. Not surprising really, we had a 6in HC shell hit us during the defensive action we ran with the _Mahan_ and the _Pope_ a few days ago and it tore the utter crap out the Pullman Guinea, that hit also forced me with the help of the Snipes replace the majority of the firebrick in boilers three and four. That wasn't fun, but damaged firebricks means that the Boiler room gets hotter than normal." Spanky said as he reached for a tool.

"Spanky? What are 'Snipes'?" Suruga Runa asked, her voice curious.

"Snipes? Oh, that's Navy Slang for the Engineering Division while in comparison, Apes is the slang term for the deck division. I mean, there is a lot of slang in the USN." Spanky replied.

It took Spanky the better part of two hours to walk the engineers on the _Tokoro_ through the process of how to replace firebrick. Which was rather easy, however the bit with showing them how to patch steam lines and water tubes was quite a bit harder and took about twenty five minutes to first explain how to do it to the engineers and then an hour for him to show them how to it, and lastly another forty-five minutes for them to get their patching ability to the point that he liked.

"Now the last part, how to the blow the tubes is rather easy." Spanky said, as he walked over to Boiler seven which was churning away happily. He then accessed an area and took a water sample. He then showed the Engineers, the water was very filthy with soot.

"Spanky? How the heck do we fix this problem?" Wakasa Reo asked.

Spanky chuckled. "It's rather simple, all we have to do is flush the tubes with real high pressure steam, which flushes the soot right out." He said.

"Sounds easy enough! Let's do it!" Maron said, and a few minutes later, boiler seven was ready to have it's tubes blown. When the command was given, the lever was thrown.

* * *

Topside, on deck on the _Tokoro_ , painting was almost done, paint was still wet, but it was manageable. The sun had almost set when without warning a weird noise started up, and suddenly with deep _vroom_! A large cloud of soot was blasted skyward, making everyone stop what they were doing and look at the large cloud of black soot that had been blasted out of one of the boilers waft skyward. Sadly the wind, carried most of the soot aft, and while most of it landed in the water, a good bit of it landed on the deck, aft deckhouse, and aft gun mounts, which at the moment had wet paint on them.

A few moments later, an thunderous, incredulous bellow rolled across the deck of the _Tokoro_. " _GODDAMN SNIPES!_ There is wet paint up here!" Katrina bellowed angrily so loudly in fact, that Akeno was certain that half the bay heard her.

"Good lord, remind me to never piss her off." Mashiro said as she watched Katrina stride purposefully to the hatch that led to the boiler room.

"Yeah, you're telling me, because well. Something tells me, that Bosun Kirkland is not happy, I mean we all know how Chief Bosun Mates tend to be about there deck. They generally like the thing to be absolutely spotless most of the time, not to mention they generally like to keep the rest of the hull and superstructure of the ship rust free. When it's not, well, they get like that." Akeno said as they began to catch hints of an absolutely epic rant happening down below decks via the voice tube that connected to Engineering.

They were even more surprised to hear a couple of horse shouts in response, probably from Spanky who had took time out of his busy day, to teach the engineering crew of the _Tokoro_ the odds and ends of boiler maintenance, however Akeno also heard some shouting response in Japanese from Maron and a few other members of the Engineering department.

After a few minutes, the shouting match began to die down. Although something told Akeno that Maron and her team had likely been rather rattled by the rant and then follow up argument that had ensued. Akeno made a mental note to ask Maron how they were doing a little later. However it turned out that it wasn't needed, for Maron's voice came through the speaking tube.

"Captain, before you ask. We are alright down here. The Bosun was justing letting us know that we had wet paint on deck. Spanky-san took the fall for us, saying that he thought the wind was still blowing out to sea because it had been when he had come aboard. He didn't expect it to change direction and thus send most of the soot onto the deck. He said it was his fault for not checking the direction that the wind was blowing before he showed us how to blow the tubes clear of soot. As it stands, efficiency in the number seven boiler increased by nearly 10%. First chance we get, we are going to blow the tubes clear of soot for the other boilers. That way we can increase the efficiency of the other boilers and _really_ get our money's worth out of them!" Maron said in a determined voice.

"Okay, understood. Thank you for letting me know." Akeno said.

"No problem Captain!" Maron said her voice filled with reassurance.

* * *

 _Two weeks later_

 _Manila_

Two and half weeks passed, with nothing happening or anything going on. Despite an interesting incident where a cat, a large silver grey tabby had caused Mashiro to trip and fall into Manila Bay. Which was rather amusing, until the cat started to follow Mashiro around, someone had called her Tripper because she had a nasty habit of tripping up students, even Seniors. Thus, everyone called her Tripper.

Nevertheless, when the USS _Seadragon_ returned to Manila earlier than expected, everyone feared the worst, that the submarine had been badly damaged, but those fears were found to be unfounded. Instead, the _Seadragon_ had scored the intelligence motherload, not to mention, the intelligence motherload she had found was also a target rich environment. A major naval base and dockyard filled with warships, merchants, Amphibious Transport Ships, and most incredibly a POW camp, filled with Blumer Personnel, likely survivors and the missing personnel from the various bases that were attacked recently.

Yet a target like this was to good to pass up. The skippers of the various ships were called to the same area where three weeks ago, they had become most likely the _only_ Quick-Reaction Force that could have a decent number of ships moving to a specific place at once. With a target like this and considering the fact that before the plates shifted that the island of Ceylon had been a part of the British Commonwealth, the British high school fleet girls were, well angry to say the least.

As a result, the order of battle was going to be a solely british operation.

"Alright? Have we decided on the order of battle for Operation: Sledgehammer and Operation: Eternal Liberation? Which together make up Operation: First Strike?" Riggs asked.

"Yes sir we have! The order of battle for Operation: Sledgehammer is going to be as follows. HMS _Repulse_ , _HMS Cornwall_ , HMS _Dorsetshire_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMS _Dragon_ , the HMAS _Stuart_ , HMAS _Vampire_ , and HMAS _Voyager_. While the order of battle for Operation: Eternal Liberation is as follows. We are going to have Commandos from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore be the ground forces, we are also going to loop in one Leopard 2SG from the 40th Battalion, that will really throw them off balance." Doorman said, in a husky tone, he was obviously nervous with sending ships that were crewed by students who had never _even_ been in a no holds bar fight before or had likely even _witnessed_ one.

Yet, they had all promised that they would defend this area to the very end, if needed. They all hoped that it wouldn't come to that, but hopes weren't that high that it _wouldn't_ come to that. They were likely going to be fighting to the bitter end, yet if they could liberate POWs, that would certainly make morale soar. One thing was for certain, this was going to be a tough fight, but if they could pull it off; it would put the enemy on notice, there was one group that was willing to stand and fight for the people who couldn't or wouldn't fight back.

"Alright, I will go alert the captains and signal the Singaporean Blue Mermaids and let them know that we need the _Endurance_ , they likely will want assurance that she won't get fragged. So there's that, but knowing our lasses and lads they would even _sacrifice_ their own ships, to make sure that the _Endurance_ isn't even hit or sunk." Headmaster Hart of the British East Indies Squadron, for the British Royal Maritime High School said.

"Agreed, but we have a bigger problem as well." Doorman said.

"What would that be?" Riggs and Hart asked at once.

"The _Tokoro_ is fresh out of Type 93s and has roughly half a load of ammunition left for her guns, she had to put a _lot_ of rounds into that _Giussano_ -class just to put the thing down. The 14cm round isn't all that big, so all she really has is Common Rounds. Plus she won't be able to scratch much with those guns." Doorman said.

"Bloody hell! This is bad, the _Tokoro_ has one of our best crews, if not our _best_ crew. How are we going to tackle this?!" Hart asked as he pulled at his hair.

"Simple, we have six spare turrets for the _Marblehead_ and plenty of ammunition for her as well; what we do is that we mount four of those turrets on to the _Tokoro_. That should keep the _Tokoro_ 's ammunition stocks nice and healthy as for torpedoes, I was thinking that we give her good old Mark 15s, and a pair of triple mounts to mount them." Riggs replied.

"Well, that solves that problem! However when should we do it?" Hart asked, sounding somewhat relieved at what he had just heard.

"Probably after the Operation: First Strike." Doorman said.

"Agreed, what will the screen for the _Endurance_ be composed of?" Riggs asked.

"The screen for the _Endurance_ will be composed of the _Tokoro_ , HMAS _Vendetta_ , and HMAS _Waterhen_. Which, I know they are old ships, but it's our best bet. If anything it means that the _Tokoro_ won't have to take part in the bombardment nor the surface action that is bound to happen. Her guns at the moment just don't pack enough grunt. So I think we put her with the _Endurance_ and she will be able to, if needed do Naval Gunfire Support. Same with the HMAS _Waterhen_ and the HMAS _Vendetta_. That ought to give whoever these bastards are something to chew on." Hart grunted out.

"That sounds like a good idea! Now then, how are we going to get our forces to their? I want to know what route we are going to take going to there and leaving." Doorman said.

"Well, they probably won't be expecting us to sortie against them. So I would recommend going up the Malacca Strait going to Ceylon but for coming back, since they will know that we mean business. They will deploy forces to engage us. I would recommend against going back through the Malacca Strait, all they have to do to plug that area up. Is just put like two submarines and a couple of destroyers and we won't be able to go through there without taking heavy losses. So, I would recommend that we run south, and slip through the Sunda Strait. Once that is done, the HMS _Repulse_ , HMS _Cornwall_ , HMS _Dorsetshire_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMS _Dragon_ , HMAS _Stuart_ , HMAS _Voyager_ , and HMAS _Vampire_ return to Manila while the _Tokoro_ , HMAS _Vendetta_ , and HMAS _Waterhen_ first escort the _Endurance_ down to Surabaya, there she unloads both the Indonesian Special Forces and any Indonesian Blue Mermaids and New Guinea Blue Mermaid POWs, she then swings north, puts in at the Philippines, there she drops Philippine Blue Mermaid POWS and the Philippine SF boys, then she returns to Singapore. With that done, the _Tokoro_ , _HMAS Vendetta_ , and HMAS _Waterhen_ return to Manila. I think we will call the final part of the Operation, Operation: Homecoming." Riggs said, using his knowledge of the area and coming to the best idea for both getting friendly forces into the Operation area and out of the Operation area in one piece.

"I do say, I think we have a plan. So let's hammer out the finer details. Such as when is the Operation going to begin." Hart said.

It still, took the three of them. The better part of two hours to hammer out the finer details, such as when the attack was due to begin and all that. Still, once that was all taken care of, there was one thing that was left.

* * *

 _Manila_

 _Following Misaki Akeno_

Akeno had no idea why she had been summoned to a quote 'war room' and why she also had to bring her deputy captain. Yet, when she had been heading there. She had encountered the captains of the Scrap Iron Flotilla; the reason that the particular Australian High School Fleet Destroyer Squadron was called as such was because said Destroyer Squadron was composed of one _Scott_ -class Destroyer Leader, one Admiralty _V_ -class Leader, one Admiralty _V_ -class Destroyer, and two Admiralty _W_ -class Destroyers; they were really old designs, on par with the American _Clemson_ -class and _Wickes_ -class in terms of age. Because of that, they often had a full crew.

Yet the one thing that the captains of the five destroyers in the 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' had in common. It was that, they quite simply didn't care that the destroyers they commanded were old or lacked a lot of automation. What mattered was that, they were theirs and that is what mattered in their opinion.

"I wonder what this is about? I mean I saw the commander of the _Repulse_ and the _Cornwall_ heading toward the 'war room' as well. So whatever is going on, it has to be big." The captain of the HMAS _Vampire_ , a young woman named Amelia Dawson said briskly.

"Too true with that Amelia, still, why the hell would they call up most of the British and a few of the Aussie Commanders? Plus the commander of the _Tokoro_? Yet none of the American or Dutch Commanders? It doesn't make any sense." The commander of the HMAS _Waterhen_ , a young man by the name of Jay Grant grunted out.

"I have no idea why they have requested most of the British and Aussie commanders and why there isn't a single Dutch or American Commander who got called up. However, I think the reason that they have called up the commander of the _Tokoro_ , is well. She's known for using dicey tactics that often work, not to mention she is the most rock steady of us all and arguably the best among us commanders." The captain of the HMAS _Stuart_ a young woman by the name of Elizabeth Rose said.

Akeno nodded in response. "I mean it makes sense. If you are going to do a daring mission. You would bet that you would want to bring your best captain and crew to the field." She said.

"Makes sense; because when it goes horribly, horribly pear-shaped, which I am hoping doesn't happen. Having a skipper and crew who has faced impossible odds, what was essentially a 'no win scenario' and won. If you ask me, Captain Akeno and her crew doesn't believe in a 'No-win Scenario'. Plain and simple." Amelia said gruffly.

"Yeah yeah. Anyway this looks like our door." Elizabeth said and she opened a door and stepped inside.

Standing inside were quite a few people. All of whom were captains and deputy captains of the ships HMS _Repulse_ , HMS _Cornwall_ , HMS _Dorsetshire_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , and HMS _Dragon_. A fair number of pretty powerful ships, however, the one thing that they all had in there hand was that they all had pen and paper. Which meant that they were going to be taking notes.

Akeno, Mashiro, and the captains and deputy captains of the 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' barely had enough time to sit down and get settled in. When a side door opened and Doorman walked in.

"Alright, let's get this underway." He said gruffly and with a nod the lights dimmed.

"Okay, thanks to some intelligence that we received thanks to efforts of the USS _Seadragon_. We have discovered a couple of things, one where a major enemy naval base is, two where a major enemy shipyard is, and three where a major POW camp is. They are all located on a recently expanded Ceylon. The Industrial Center and Naval Base are located on the Northern Side of Ceylon and the POW Camp is located on the Southern Side of Ceylon. Here is how we are going to do this. We are going to do a two-part operation. The first part of the Operation, which is codenamed Sledgehammer; will have the ships _Repulse_ , _Cornwall_ , _Dorsetshire_ , _Dauntless_ , _Dragon_ , _Stuart_ , _Vampire_ , and _Voyager_ come in and bombard the hell out of the enemy shipyard and port. Your targets are going to be any ship flying this flag as well as the slipways." Doorman said, while various pictures of the port and shipyard as well as the POW camp plus the enemy flag showed up on a projection screen.

" _Tokoro_ , _Vendetta_ , and _Waterhen_ , your job will be to escort the Royal Singaporean Blue Mermaid Ship _Endurance_. This is a mission critical objective, the _Endurance_ must _survive at all costs_. Because she will be carrying a single LCM carrying a lone Leopard 2SG and a couple of rapid insertion boats, these boats are twenty feet long and have a top speed of 50 knots, these Rapid Insertion Boats will be the infil and exfil means for nearly sixty Special Forces Infantry from Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The objective for the Special Forces is quite simple. Get in, show these bastards what's for and get out, with as many POWs alive as physically possible. You may be called upon to give Naval Gunfire Support, if you are, make sure it is accurate and does as little collateral damage as possible, which means only one or two rounds, unless they call for 'Fire for Effect'. If they call for that, just unleash hell. This operation will be called Operation: Eternal Liberation. Combined with Sledgehammer, these operations for the larger Operation: First Strike. Any questions?" Doorman said.

Almost instantly a hand shot up.

"Yes, Rory Fisher?" Doorman asked, speaking to the captain of the _Repulse_.

"Admiral Doorman, sir. What ship is going to be the flagship for Operation: Sledgehammer? Also what ship is going to be the flagship for Operation: Eternal Liberation?" He asked. Rory Fisher had a rather boyish face, with chestnut brown hair and grey eyes, he stood roughly 5 feet 7 inches tall.

"The flagship for Operation: Sledgehammer, as well for the voyage to and from the mission area will be the _Repulse_. As for the ship that will be the flagship for Operation: Eternal Liberation, that will be the _Endurance_. Any other questions?" Doorman asked and when no other hands went up he nodded.

"Good, you leave in two days from now, you will RV with the _Endurance_ at the southern entrance to the Malacca Strait. One more thing, I want to see all of you come back from this mission alive. Got it?" Doorman said and everyone in unison barked "Yessir!" in reply.

"Good! God Speed! Dismissed!" Doorman said and everyone stood up and filed out of the room, to go make their ships ready for sail.

* * *

 _Two days later_

 _Manila_

It was roughly the crack of dawn, when the _Tokoro_ weighed anchor and began to get underway, sailing in company with numerous other ships. All sailing for the Malacca Strait to meet up with the _Endurance_ and then to sally forth into the Indian Ocean and to raise some hell. This mission had to succeed at all costs, because not only was there a chance to cripple the enemy ship building capability as well as what had to be major port, but also because there was a POW camp there as well, and it would be inconsiderate to _not_ attempt a rescue mission. The first major Operation in the fight to main in control of the Malay Barrier had begun.

* * *

 **AN: Alright folks! Here we go! Another chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic is up and running! If you have any ideas for what should happen in the story please send me a PM or leave it in a review.**

 **Anyway take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Alright, the first offensive operation that the Combined Malay Barrier Command has launched is going to commence in this chapter. So it will likely get fairly crazy, toward the middle of the chapter. Expect that.**

 **Also, the Royal Navy is still a thing, as the British are well, extremely proud of their Navy's heritage and history, so all they did was simply do a massive reorganization of its structure, also they did keep the Royal Marines weren't disbanded as well, mainly because again a metric ton of history and heritage in the Royal Marines, anyway they have the important role of protecting RN Bases, Ships, partaking in the boarding of hostile ships or ships of interest, etc. As when students join the High School Fleet Program, they effectively join the RN at that moment and the same goes for students who join the Royal Marine High School Program, they tag along with the ships to well provide extra security in case something goes wrong or extra manpower.**

 **Anyway with that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and set sail into the chapter!**

* * *

 _The Strait of Malacca_

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Following Misaki Akeno_

Akeno had one thing to admit, the _Endurance_ was an impressive ship to see. However, it was even more impressive that she was carrying Rapid Insertion Boats, the things could carry fifteen soldiers into combat, if anything they looked like Skippers which had been lengthened, given a flatbed in back that was enclosed that had a big old machine gun poking up. Not to mention they had a more powerful engine, and due to an interesting design, travel a semi good distance onto a beach and then get off said beach. Akeno had no idea how _that_ worked though, however, while there was only three fifteen man special forces teams.

However, sitting inside the _Endurance_ was a high speed catamaran Landing Craft Mechanized with wave piercing hull, this thing was lugging in essence the trump card for the ground forces that was going in, as well as the main exfil means for said trump card and the POWs. The trump card was a single Singaporean Leopard 2SG, in essence a Leopard 2A4. The marvelous machine was the _most_ advanced, _best_ protected, and _most_ powerful MBT in all of the Malay Barrier. It would easily overpower anything that the Special Forces wouldn't be able to take down.

"I can't believe we are doing something this crazy. I mean, don't get me wrong, we have done some pretty crazy stuff before. However this is pretty high up there in terms of crazy." Mashiro said as she gazed at the _Endurance_.

Akeno who was sitting in captain's chair (note I have no idea what a _Yuubari_ -class Light Cruiser's Bridge looks like, I am _assuming_ it has a captain's chair) nodded in agreement. "I agree with you there Shiro-chan. However if anything, this raid is basically composed of a ragtag bunch of misfits, a mix of students, Blumers, Royal Marine Student Contingents, and the best of the best in terms of military forces in the area. If this was one of those American action movies where we have to save the world, this usually means that we will do just fine. However this isn't one of those American action movies, so we don't know if we will do fine or not. This could either go off without a hitch, or it could horribly, horribly wrong very, very fast. Either way we are going to be challenged in ways we have never thought possible as it stands, this is the start of something big." Akeno said.

"Eh, if we look at it one way, the enemy doesn't know that we are going on the offensive. Nor do they know that we are going to sucker punch them right where it hurts and hopefully gain the advantage we need!" Mei said energetically.

"Well, if you ask me. We will likely do just fine! I mean, we survived our first battle against these guys, we will likely survive our other fights as well!" Rin said.

Katrina came puffing up the stairway that led to the bridge. Katrina Kirkland was stupendously well muscled for her short stature, she was only about 5 foot 2 and was 16 years old. Her blue eyes gleamed with intelligence and her slick raven black hair was done up in a short ponytail.

"Captain, I have a suggestion that I would want to make. Plus this is rather important, it might not seem important but it is." Katrina said.

"Oh? What do you mean by that Kirk-chan?" Akeno asked confused.

"Well, the one thing I am concerned with, is the fact that if we take a bridge hit or a hit to the pilothouse, we could have the majority of the command staff aboard severely injured or killed. That would leave Maron in charge and I don't think she's ready to have a ship of her own. I recommend, now remember this is only a recommendation, but I would recommend that Ms. Munetani as well as the accounting crew assigned to the auxiliary conn station during battle conditions. While you Captain would command the _Tokoro_ in battle from the bridge. That way if the _Tokoro_ suffers a hit to the pilothouse or god help us a direct hit to the bridge, the entire command staff won't be put out of action due to one hit. I know it sounds alien, but trust me, there's nothing worse than taking a hit that completely cripples the ship just because everyone on the bridge is dead and no one is at the auxiliary conn." Kirkland said however her tone of voice said that she had been on a ship when this had happened too in combat.

"Thanks Kirk-chan. I think that makes a lot of sense and it is also sensible as well. As today is friday which means we get to have Curry today." Akeno said.

"Ooooh! I absolutely love curry!" Kirkland replied, her voice absolutely thrilled at the prospect of having Curry.

* * *

The transit through the Strait of Malacca was completely unchallenged because a Singaporean _Archer_ -class Conventionally Powered Diesel Electric Submarine had removed the blockade with ease using Black Shark Heavyweight Torpedoes. Sinking the lone Heavy Cruiser and the two escorting destroyers before they knew that the submarine was even there. With the roadblock removed, the task force sailed out of the Strait of Malacca and then poured it on, making a sprint first to the Admannan Islands where they topped off their fuel bunkers and then proceeded to Ceylon to raise some hell.

As luck had it, they arrived at their destination under the cover of darkness around midnight. It was the perfect time to strike, because the enemy would not be expecting it, thus seeing the horizon pulse and roar with fire, a few minutes into the attack, the Special Forces would hit the beaches.

* * *

 _Start of Operation:_ SLEDGEHAMMER

 _HMS_ Repulse

 _Roy Fisher commanding_

Roy glanced at the chronometer and grinned, it was time to raise some hell. "Signal the fleet! All ships, commence firing with High Capacity Rounds! Let's get this bloody show on the road!" He barked.

With a whirring sound the turrets on the HMS _Repulse_ , which had remained docile ever since she was launched, her guns while they had been fired before, that had only been in training, gunnery practice more than anything else. She hadn't even fired her guns once in anger, she hadn't even been in a training battle before. Now however, the six Breech Loading 15in/42 caliber Mark I guns that made up her main battery were furious, boiling with rage that was ready to be unleashed.

With a booming roar that somehow conveyed that even the _Repulse_ herself was pissed off, the six 15in/42 roared, lobbig High Capacity Rounds down range that weighed nearly a ton. Down the line, the eight 8in/50 caliber guns that armed the _County_ -class Cruisers HMS _Cornwall_ and HMS _Dorsetshire_ spoke their anger with a booming crash as well, lobbing 256 pound High Capacity rounds down range as well. Behind the two heavy cruisers the light cruisers _Dauntless_ and _Dragon_ added their own 6in guns to the carnage, while the _Stuart_ , _Vampire_ , and _Voyager_ added there own 4.7in and 4in guns to the chaos.

Within moments, explosions were cascading all over the harbor, the slipways, and generally anything else in the harbor that looked important. The attack caught the enemy completely off guard, ships began to build up steam to get underway to engage whoever the hell was blasting the hell out of the harbor. However this would take sometime before they had enough pressure built up so they could get underway.

Meanwhile, about twenty-five miles to the south, on board the _Tokoro_ , they heard the guns of the fleet of Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER open fire and begin well, to put it one way, one hell of a distraction.

The rumble of engines as the Rapid Insertion Boats and the LCMs began to head rapidly toward the Ceylon as the Special Forces raced toward the enemy POW camp. Signaling the start of Operation: ETERNAL LIBERATION.

"Tama, have our main battery swung out. I want to be able to have the least amount of time required between receiving a request for gunfire support and being able to deliver it." Akeno said.

"Aye!" Tama said, before turning to the speaking tube and giving orders. With a whine of electric motors and the grinding of gears. The four turrets of the _Tokoro_ swung out toward the POW camp. With that the _Tokoro_ was ready to provide gunfire support.

All the while in the distance the thunderous booming roar of the guns of the fleet that was doing Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER kept on pouring it on.

* * *

 _Ashore on Ceylon_

 _Operation:_ ETERNAL LIBERATION

The guards of the POW camp were extremely nervous and they had a good reason to be nervous. For the thunder of guns that was constantly booming in the distance as something pounded the hell out of a rather important harbor and shipyard. The explosions were continuous and part of the horizon had this slight orangish glow as fires burned out of control.

They all knew that if whoever the was attacking them decided to swing south, just five minutes of bombardment and they would have a massacre on there hands. Plain and simple. So you can imagine their shock and horror when a high speed LCM with a catamaran hull and a wave piercing hull came out of the darkness and deposited a Leopard 2SG in their laps, followed shortly by three Rapid Response Boats coming ashore and offloading three squads of Special Forces as well.

The Leopard 2SG opened fire first, a FS-HEP round came flying out of the 120mm/L44 gun and literally blew the front gate apart. Special Forces sprinted into the hole, the Leopard MBT right behind them. Rifles, Machine Guns, and shotguns barking.

The Special Forces moved quickly, easily sweeping the enemy aside. The pop of various weapons chambered in NATO calibers contrasted sharply with the thundering booming bark of Soviet Era Assault Rifles and LMGs.

A cry of "RPG!" came from one of the soldiers and an RPG-7 rocket screamed across the battlefield and splashed across the front of the Leopard 2SG and barely scratched the thing. In response, the coaxial MG on the Leopard 2SG fired and sent the enemy trooper who had fired the RPG sprawling backward.

Chaos reigned as the enemy tried to rally, but the forces that were attacking them were simply too well trained, better equipped in every way possible, not to mention it didn't help matters that well the good guys had a motherfucking tank and the enemy didn't have a weapon that could scratch it.

* * *

 _Inside one of the buildings housing POWs_

 _Following Thong Thaem Prugsanapan_

Thong Thaem Prugsanapan was a proud member of the Royal Thai Blue Mermaid Service, at least she had been, but then that horrible night had occurred, where a very nasty force of surface warships came out of the night and had pounded the hell out the Blumer Base she had been assigned too. Her ship a Thailand designed but Chinese Built ship a _Naresuan_ -class, the HTMS _Taksin_ , had sortied against the enemy. Fighting it out with ships armed with guns and torpedoes that hit way harder than what the _Taksin_ was armed with. Whenever she went to sleep, she was back on the bridge, everything being flames, with dead and gravely wounded members of the bridge crew on the deck. The captain, holding her side where a fragment had hit her and she was giving out orders to not give up the ship. She could hear the 5in/45 Caliber Mark 45 Gun cycling rounds, a constant _boom_ …clink, the occasional roar of one of the two 30mm MSI-DSL DS30MR CIWS gun lashing out at a target that the operator in CIC thought he could hit. The scream of rocket engines as RIM-162s or Harpoons went screaming out of their launchers, racing out to slam an enemy ship, only for most of the time to be frustrated by CIWS and AA fire, never connecting with their intended target. Always ending with the _Taksin_ shuddering violently as two torpedoes from an enemy _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyer slammed into her, breaking her back, throwing a turbine from it's mount and dooming the ship. It would always be at that moment that the nightmare would end. She knew what she had, a disorder that would get her drummed out of the service for sure, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; it certainly how she didn't want her career to end.

However, hope filled her chest as pure chaos erupted outside. Gunfire rattling, the shriek of a rocket, and the occasional thunderous discharge of a large caliber cannon. It added to the mayhem. Five guards burst into the building and assumed defensive positions. Moments later, with a terrific crash the door was kicked off it's hinges and five Philippine Special Forces Operatives burst into the room and put the guards down before they could react with quick and accurate gunfire.

"Come on! Get moving! We're here to rescue you!" One man said in crisp if somewhat heavy Philippine accent.

That got everyone's attention, the POWs got up and began to move quickly yet quietly outside. Although granted, the sounds of battle was awesome, suddenly with a rumble. A enemy tank rolled into view, however, what the tank was made everyone freeze in surprise before diving for cover. A split second later, with a fierce overpressure and a booming crack, the 125mm main gun on the T-72M1V Main Battle Tank spat a HE-FS round at the special forces soldiers. The round missed, but it completely demolished a building some 100 meters behind the Special Forces and the POWs that they had liberated.

One hardy soldier leaped up and yelled "Backblast area! Get clear!" He then hefted an M72 EC LAW MK I.

"Don't do it!" Another soldier yelled, but he was too slow in doing that. With a _FWOOM_ , a 66mm HEAT Rocket with 450mm of RHA penetration flew out of the tube and screamed toward the enemy MBT, however, a nasty surprise reared its head as the LAW round slammed into the MBT. A ball of fire erupted on the hull of the vehicle. When the smoke and flame cleared, it showed that the T-72M1V was completely unscathed, apart for having some ERA blocks destroyed. But they had neutralized the round and thus the rocket had done jack shit to the king of the battlefield, the MBT.

The soldier who fired the LAW rocket realized at that moment, that he had done fucked up. Because the turret rotated slowly toward him, and with a solid long burst from the coaxial machine gun, killed the soldier who had fired the LAW.

"Damn! What the hell are we going to do against that guy?" One of the recently freed POWs asked fearfully.

"I got it!" The CO of the SF Team said, before he grabbed his radio.

* * *

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

" _Captain! We got a request for a fire mission from a Philippine Special Forces Squad! They have encountered an enemy tank and can't do anything about it!"_ Tsugumi said through the speaking tube.

"Tsugumi, can you please request for the coordinates of the tank?" Akeno asked quickly.

" _Hai!"_ Tsugumi replied.

A few minutes later, Tsugumi rattled off the coordinates of the MBT and also said that the fire mission was "Danger Close". Akeno paled, they had to astronomically precise with this otherwise, there was going to be friendly casualties.

"Tama, can you have our twin gun turrets fire each barrel individually, with like a quarter second delay between each barrel firing? Because we need accuracy here not pure firepower." Akeno said.

"Aye, the gunnery crew can do it." Tama said, before giving the orders out.

The three turrets that could traverse enough to be brought to bear traversed. "Ready!" Tama called.

"Commence firing!" Akeno ordered sharply.

Tama repeated the order and moments later. _Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!_ Five guns thundered in ripple fire, lobbing high explosive rounds down range. Explosions rocked an area of the prison camp.

Tsugumi's voice came over the speaking tube again. " _Captain got a message from the Special Forces! It says 'No change! No change! You blew the bastard's track off! Fire for effect!'."_ She said.

"Thanks Tsugumi." Akeno said, she then nodded to Tama, who nodded before putting on a bit of a grin. Before turning around and speaking into the speaking tube. "No change! Fire for effect, fifteen rounds down range! Begin firing!" She said.

The five 14cm/50 caliber 3rd Year Type Naval Guns opened fire, each gun thundered several times, lobbing Common Type 0 HE Rounds down range. Each round contained 6.3 pounds of high explosive. Explosions began to rock the area, where the fire had been requested.

The fifteen rounds were quickly fired and the _Tokoro_ 's guns went silent. A few moments after that happened, the last set of major explosions to rock the POW camp subsided.

" _Captain! Report from the ground forces. It reads "Good hits! Good hits! Target destroyed!" We did it!"_ Tsugumi exclaimed jubilantly.

"Good work Tama!" Mei cheered as she gave Tama a high five.

"Nice job, Tama!" Akeno praised.

"You did a good job!" Rin congratulated.

"Once again, Tama shows that she is really good with artillery! It's just incredible!" Kouko praised.

It was true, for the fifteen 14cm High Explosive rounds had reduced the T-72M1V to an unrecognizable, twisted mess. Not to mention what was left of its chassis was upside down and in a crater, not only that, but the suspension system didn't really exist anymore on the MBT. Not only that, but it's paint wasn't even visible and the frame was bent and twisted all out of true, plus what was left of the powerpack was on fire.

With the MBT out of the way, the team of Philippine Special Forces, which was apart of the Light Reaction Regiment then moved quickly back toward the LCM, to bring the POWs they had rescued. They then ran back into fray, however before long, a nearly constant stream of Special Forces Teams were coming in and delivering freed POWs to the LCM.

Yet it was clear that the camp had been totally overwhelmed, all of the defenders killed, including two other T-72M1V MBTs both of which had met a sticky end at the hands of Leopard 2SG, all told, Operation: ETERNAL LIBERATION had gone off without a hitch, only three dead among the Special Forces, which besides the Philippine Light Reaction Regiment also included the Indonesian Koppassus and Singaporean Armed Forces Commando Formation. While in return, Operation: ETERNAL LIBERATION had succeeded in liberating more than 350 POWs with none of the POWs killed in the operation, not to mention the Liberators took twenty or so enemy soldiers prisoner in return. The result was even better than expected.

Yet, the main objective of Operation: ETERNAL LIBERATION had been a smashing success. Then, everything started to go horribly pear shaped with Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER.

* * *

 _HMS_ Repulse

 _Operation:_ SLEDGEHAMMER

 _Status: Underway_

 _Following Roy Fisher_

"Captain! Report from Seaman Moore in the Crow's Nest! Enemy naval force inbound! Composition is one _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser, three _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruisers, four _Giussano_ -class Light Cruisers, two _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyers, and four _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyers! They are coming in quick!" The Bridge talker said.

Then the circuit for the intercom that led to the radio room squawked. " _Captain! Just got word from the_ Endurance _, mission completed! See you at the RV point!"_ The radio operator said.

Roy grabbed the sound powered phone. "Sparks, is the _Vendetta_ and the _Waterhen_ equipped with torpedoes?" Roy asked, hoping beyond hope that they did.

" _Yes sir they do. However they are only practice torpedoes, they aren't live fish. So unless we are shooting at Littoral Combat Ships or something they will be about as useful as tits on a fish. Sir."_ Sparks replied.

"Bloody hell! I thought I told the logistic boys to get the dummy torps off my fucking ships! I am going to fucking straggle the logistics quartermaster responsible for this fucking cockup!" Roy snarled in anger.

Roy then took a moment to get himself under control. He then sighed and said "Alright! All ships, advance to 30 knots! Hard to port! Prepare for artillery exchange! Have all ships made watertight and have damage control crews on standby." Roy ordered sharply. The reason he ordered hard to port, was so that way, the enemy would have to travel more distance to 'Cross the T' of the _Repulse_ and the rest of the ships assigned to Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER.

The bridge crew of the _Repulse_ sprang to their tasks. The sounds of hatches slamming shut reverberated throughout the deck of the _Repulse_ while at the sametime, the steady rumble that the engines were producing increased in loudness and pitch, the Battlecruiser began to increase speed from her sedate speed of 12 knots to her flank speed of 30 knots.

However the _Repulse_ was a Battlecruiser, her armor wasn't really anything to write home about. Sure it would keep 8in shell fire and below out, but if that _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser with her 15in guns, could with one well placed salvo cripple the _Repulse_ if not outright _blow her up_. A single 15in round, although judging by the damage, these _Admiral_ -class Battlecruisers had 16in guns, so in that case, a single 16in APC round hitting _Repulse_ in the right place, could knock her out of the battle with ease, which would be very bad.

Worse, due to the direction that the enemy was coming from, the Northwest, that meant, they had basically achieved a T-cross, they needed to form up into a battle formation, and then turned so they could unshadow all of their turrets.

The _Repulse_ and the rest of the group of the ships that made up the force that was taking part in Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER was still gaining speed when the enemy fleet opened fire. The horizon pulsed with fire and flame, as 16in, 8in, 6in, 5.4in, and 5.1in rounds screamed toward the British and Australian ships. Most of the shells missed, although there was a few crashes and crunches as shells struck home.

A large explosion convulsed the _Cornwall_ , as she took a pair of hits two her 'B' Turret. The resulting force blew the turret apart, snapping a gun barrel and trashing the internal workings of the turret, while at the same time. The safety features of the turret engaged, and prevented a catastrophic explosion. However, the _Cornwall_ had just suffered a devastating blow, however the handsome _County_ -class Heavy Cruiser somehow, despite the heavy damage she had just received she managed to continue her advance at 30 knots.

" _Cornwall!_ Give me a damage report! You lads and lasses alright over there?" Roy barked into the TBS.

" _This is_ Cornwall _, we will manage_ Repulse _! No damage sustained to our engines, and we still have most of our main battery! We can handle ourselves! Let's smoke these bastards!"_ The commander of the HMS _Cornwall_ , a young lass Nicole Duncan said briskly, a hint of an accent from the area around Silverstone in her voice.

"Roger _Cornwall_ , if anything changes. Let me know _immediately_.You understand?" Roy barked.

" _Understood_ Repulse _, if anything on our end changes we will let you know right way!"_ Nicole replied crisply.

"Good! _Repulse_ out!" Roy said, he then took a deep breath then looked at the bridge talker.

"Someone please yank down that rag we are flying and hoist the battle flag! Also signal the fleet, hoist the battle flag!" Roy ordered sharply. The 'rag' he was referring to was the flag of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and the Battle Flag was the White Ensign in particular the one from 1707 to 1800, the time when Great Britain had the strongest Navy in the world. Mainly for historical precedence. Yet nothing said that there was British High School Fleet ships on the battlefield like that huge White Ensign.

The screech of the halyard signaled that the flag was being changed out. Roy smiled slightly, for now it was time to enter the gates of hell, because they were outnumbered in every respect, the enemy likely had superior training, not to mention better fire control systems which meant better gunnery, plus the torpedoes that they were packing were bound to be nasty as hell.

Yet he didn't give a shit, because well, they were fighting against a great evil. One that could potentially all but destroy freedom of the seas across the world's oceans.

"All ships! Assume echelon formation! Prepare to engage the enemy! Up and at them!" Roy barked quickly into the TBS as the enemy ship's main batteries barked out another massed salvo. This time due to the fact that they were changing formation as the enemy had fired, only two shells actually hit anything.

One 5.1in round from one of the _Le Hardi_ 's came screaming in and slammed into the HMAS _Stuart_ in the tower that supported the aft searchlight, at a point that was roughly just below level with the 'X' gun mount. The resulting detonation of 7 pounds of high explosive blew the entire assembly apart, sending shrapnel in every direction. Some of it went flying into the 'P' turret mount which was located at a similar height to the searchlight tower; the hurricane of shrapnel cut down everyone who wasn't protected by the gun mount itself, as the 'P' mount didn't have a splinter shield, despite the fact that they were all wearing body armor and combat helmets, some of the shrapnel hit their unarmored legs or neck or slammed full force into their side, causing nasty and painful blunt force trauma injuries and deep and extremely painful not to mention bloody gashes. It was just as bad on the 'X' mount, which was located aft of the searchlight tower, but shrapnel still went flying into the gun mount, cutting down anyone who wasn't protected by the splinter shield, but not entirely, some of the shrapnel flew under the splinter shield as it didn't go all the way down to the deck and inflicted severe injuries on the lower legs of both the pointer and the trainer of the mount. The searchlight and the platform that it sat on, or rather what was left of it, went toppling forward, crashing onto the triple torpedo mount that was located right in front of it. No one manning the forward torpedo mount was killed, but the torpedomen for the forward mount were dazed and the triple torpedo mount was rendered inoperable by several tons of steel, broken glass, and wiring.

The other round that hit a ship, was a 6in round from one of the _Giussano_ -class Light Cruisers, the High Explosive round splashed across the belt armor of the _Repulse_ and apart from scorching the hell out of the paint job did no damage.

 ***BGM: Battleship OST: Super Battle***

Onboard the _Repulse_ , Roy grimaced as he got the report from the _Stuart_ , two of her main battery guns were out of action due to everyone on the mounts being either killed or severely injured. "All ships, hard to port! Commence artillery action to starboard, all guns! Open fire! Secondary batteries may fire at will!" Roy shouted.

The ships that composed the battlegroup that had taken part in Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER turned to port again, this time, coming line abreast with the enemy. A few moments later, the British and Australian ships had their main batteries and secondary batteries bark out ragged broadsides. A torrent of 15in, 8in, 6in, 4.7in, 4.5in, and 4in projectiles streaked toward the enemy formation. The 15s on _Repulse_ wouldn't be back up for 30 seconds however her secondary guns would be back up in five seconds, the 8in guns on the _Cornwall_ and _Dorsetshire_ wouldn't be back up for 10 seconds while the 4in guns on the heavy cruisers were going to be back up in 4 to 5 seconds, the same was true for the 6in main guns on the _Dragon_ and the _Dauntless_ their reload was the same as the 8s on the Heavy Cruisers, as well as the 4.7in guns that could still fire on the _Stuart_ , however the guns on the _Vampire_ and _Voyager_ would be back up and ready to fire much quicker than the other guns with only anywhere between 5 to 7 seconds before being ready to fire again.

The first salvo from the British and Australian ships landed, with numerous hits seen on several ships. The _Cornwall_ and the _Dorsetshire_ had decided to focus down one of the _Zao_ -class and had ripped her to pieces with at least ten hits, flames and burning fuel oil exploded upward from below decks and quickly took the warship in its deadly embrace the _Zao_ -class veered out of formation beginning to sink, the _Dauntless_ and the _Dragon_ each scored several hits on one of the _Giussano_ s but the larger Italian Light Cruiser barely seemed to notice the hits however inside the enemy light cruiser it was pure chaos as _Giussano_ 's nonexistent armor reared its ugly head, the _Stuart_ had fired at with her three guns that were manned and could fire somehow managed to score three hits against an enemy _Mogador_ -class, the shells either hitting or landing near it's 'B' turret, blowing the thing from it's mount and igniting the ready ammunition, starting a chain reaction that blew the enemy _Mogador_ -class apart, and lastly the _Vampire_ and the _Voyager_ scored two hits for the former on a _Le Hardi_ -class, blowing an AA gun mount apart and nailing the bridge, the now headless destroyer rapidly heeled out of formation and out the fight while the later scored three hits on a _Le Hardi_ -class, destroying the number two gun mount or to be more specific the aft deckhouse on which it had sat upon sending the gun mount crashing to the deck, scoring a hit amidships striking a torpedo mount causing a large secondary explosion that decimated the destroyer, and lastly punching a hole in her aft funnel; the crippled _Le_ _Hardi_ -class began to slow dramatically, the _Le Hardi_ -class that was behind it couldn't take evasive action quickly enough and rammed the destroyer at what had to be 30 plus knots. The crippled destroyer's stern simply caved in from the force of the impact and knocked both ships out of the fight, just like that most of the enemy destroyers were knocked out.

"HA! Two for one!" The commander of the _Voyager_ cheered as he saw the carnage through a pair of binoculars.

The six shells from the _Repulse_ however came down around the enemy Battlecruiser in a tight bracket, six towering black dyed columns of water erupted skyward on either side of the enemy _Admiral_ -class; a swing and a miss.

However, just as the guns on the _Cornwall_ , _Dorsetshire_ , _Dauntless_ , _Dragon_ , and _Stuart_ finished reloading. The Gun Fire Control Systems on the enemy ships finished locking down fire solutions on various ships, taking into account every possible variable, from the speed of the hostile ships, to the direction of the wind, the speed of the wind, coriolis force, the gravity, etc. With all of the variables locked in, the main batteries of the enemy ships boomed out precise and massed salvo from their guns, a tornado of 16in, 8in, 6in, 5.8in, and 5.1in shells streaked toward the British and Australian ships, the enemy shells had gotten halfway to their targets when the _Cornwall_ , _Dorsetshire_ , _Dauntless_ , _Dragon_ , and _Stuart_ 's guns all boomed out sharp salvos. Meanwhile the _Vampire_ and _Voyager_ kept up a constant stream of fire. The same was true for _Repulse_ 's secondary guns, these were 4.5in guns, however due to improvements in gun manufacturing capabilities, powder quality, shell quality these 4.5in guns could throw a shell some twelve miles.

Then the enemy shells came screaming down, with the force of a tornado. The _Repulse_ took three hits from that enemy _Admiral_ -class, aft, the shells slammed into the area around the 'Y' Turret, one shell drilled through the armor of said turret and detonated inside, the blast blew the turret apart, to make matters worse the powder train ignited, the only thing that save the old Battlecruiser from being blown to pieces in a cataclysmic explosion was the fact that, despite the fact he was mortally wounded and that the two gun trainers, the two gun pointers, and the two young lasses and the lad who was on the rangefinder were all fatally wounded as well. The Gun Captain before succumbing to his wounds, saved the ship and everyone aboard her, he grabbed the lever to flood the aft magazine and yanked it down. Instanly sea cocks opened and the magazine for the 'Y' Turret and seawater poured into the magazine, flooding it, ruining all the powder bags and rendering them unable to be ignited, thus saving the ship from exploding in a titanic explosion reminiscent of three separate British Battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland or the USS _Arizona_ disaster. The second round slammed into the deck armor and drilled deep into the ship before detonating in a small arms armory for the Royal Marine High School Students onboard, the space was thankfully completely empty except for the L1A1s, L2A1s, L42A1 Sniper Rifles, Sterling SMGs, L9A1 Pistols, and L7 LMGs, the resulting fireball totally destroyed the space and everything in it but no was hurt. The last round actually did the least amount of damage, it hit the _Repulse_ on her belt, near the stern and went through and through without even exploding, plowing into the water some 15 meters beyond the battlecruiser. The other shells bracketed the _Repulse_ , throwing tower columns of red water skyward around the battered battlecruiser. The way the deck quivered after the ship stopped shaking, it was as if the _Repulse_ herself was taunting the enemy, saying 'is that all you got?'.

The fury of the two _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruisers that could still fight had fired on both the _Cornwall_ and the _Dorsetshire_. The _Dorsetshire_ got off relatively scott free as out of the twelve shells ten plunged into the water around her, while the other two shells did hit the _County_ -class they didn't do a lot of damage, one shell struck the ship right in the thickest part of the deck and failed to penetrate but it did leave a big ass dent in the armor, the other shell punched through a funnel and then plunged into the sea.

However her sister on the other hand, the _Cornwall_ took a beating, one shell punched through the deck armor and plunged deep into the ship before exploding, throwing everyone down to the deck, another shell plunged through the belt armor at a spot where it was two inches thick and penetrated and completely annihilated a berthing space, and lastly one round drilled deep into the ship and detonated in the smoke uptake box for two boilers, blasting said uptake box apart, and throwing a large fireball, as well as steam, soot, and exhaust gases thundering out of her third stack. The shockwave of the blast snuffed the fires in the two boilers that had their exhaust go up that uptake box. Thinking fast the man in charge of that boiler room quickly told the other boiler rooms and the six boilers that remained to overload their boilers at design overload, to make up for the loss of two boilers, because unless everyone in the aft boiler room wanted to die, they couldn't relight the fires. The other shells however bracketed the _Norfolk_ -class Heavy Cruiser. Yet it was clear that the Heavy Cruiser was hurting.

It was at this time that the _Repulse_ 's forward gun turrets, the only guns in her main battery that still functioned boomed out a thundering salvo that seemed so much angrier than her guns had sounded at the start of Operation: SLEDGEHAMMER.

However the shells from the _Giussano_ 's landed moments later, right behind the 8s and the 16s that had brutally ravaged two ships. However, not a single 6in shell connected with either _D_ -class Light Cruiser, for they had thrown their rudders over by half the moment they had seen the enemy guns fire and had thus spoiled the firing solution of the enemy light cruisers.

Onboard the _Stuart_ , a true pain train slammed into the Aussie Destroyer Leader as four 5.4in shells impacted and tore the ship apart amidships, blasting the aft funnel clean of the ship, punching through her side and detonating inside, blew the 'P' gun mount apart in violent detonation followed moments later by a large secondary convulsing that area as the ready locker ammunition and powder bags for the 'P' mount exploded, moments later at the sametime that the last 5.4in High Explosive Round blew a great chunk out of the forward funnel, the torpedoes in the forward mount when off in a titanic explosion as three Mark IX** 21in Torpedoes exploded and broke the _Stuart_ 's back, moments later the other three Mark IX** 21in Torpedoes in the other mount exploded. The fires began to consume the ship like a greedy animal, combined with the damage it was too much for the Destroyer Leader, and she disintegrated amidships, everything from where the 'X' mount was to just aft of where the aft funnel used to be simply broke apart. No order to abandon ship needed to be given as no ship could survive the sort of damage that the _Stuart_ had suffered, what remained of the stern quickly disappeared, but the bow remained afloat just long enough for everyone who was in the bow section of the ship to jump in the water and start swimming for their lives. The _Vampire_ didn't have a chance to slow down enough to rescue survivors but the _Voyager_ did, she came to a almost a full stop and commenced rescue operations, all the while her guns continued to blaze away at the enemy.

Back onboard the _Repulse_ , amid the chaos of battle, the guns blazing away. The guns discharging. Roy Fisher, the commander of the _Repulse_ was about to get some very unwelcome news.

The intercom circuit for the radio room squawked. " _Captain! Report from the_ Voyager _! The_ Stuart _has been sunk! I repeat the_ Stuart _has been sunk! Reports from the_ Voyager _estimate that they have 115 survivors in the water, they are commencing rescue operations!"_ The radio man reported sharply.

Roy cursed creatively, the first offensive in this crisis and the _Repulse_ and _Cornwall_ were being clobbered, they were both vital assets that couldn't be lost otherwise a huge handicap would be placed on the Combined Malay Barrier Command! However _Cornwall_ was receiving a nastier beating than the _Repulse_ was and then the _Stuart_ gets blown out of the water. Just as he was thinking how could this get any worse, four large muffled explosions tore through the air. Turns out that it could get worse, those had to be torpedoes, they hadn't hit the _Repulse_ but judging from the sound the _Cornwall_ had likely just been clobbered. Then a lookout confirmed what he already feared. " _Captain! The_ Cornwall _has been hit by torpedoes! She has been hit by four torpedoes! She's sinking! The_ Cornwall _is sinking, sir!"_ Seaman Moore cried frantically his voice filled with horror at what he was seeing.

Roy sprinted to the bridge wing and looked aft, sure enough the _Cornwall_ which was slowing dramatically, the bow of the heavy cruiser was simply put, _gone_ completely carried away by the explosive force of what had to be Type 93s, Oxygen Torpedoes. The _Dorsetshire_ was turning to avoid the dying _Kent_ -class Heavy Cruiser, that's when a shock plume from a torpedo exploded against her flank as well, smoke and flames exploded from her forward stack as her forward boiler room was snuffed out. People were jumping over the side on the _Cornwall_ , the heavy cruiser was starting roll, her three Skipper High Speed Launches, her Whaleboat, and her two RIHBs were already in the water acting as impromptu lifeboats as well as whatever life rafts weren't torn to ribbons. The life rafts that were full were already moving away from the _Cornwall_.

 ***BGM Fades out slowly***

"This is enough! Signal the _Dauntless_ and _Dragon_ , tell them to pick up survivors from the _Cornwall_! All other ships save the _Vampire_ which I want to lay a smokescreen to cover the _Dauntless_ and the _Dragon_ are to run like the bloody devil is behind them to the RV point!" Roy barked sharply, just as _Repulse_ 's guns thundered again. The four 15in shells screamed toward the _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser, this time two impacted and a large fireball, a huge cloud of smoke, soot, and steam shot skyward and the enemy ship slowed almost instantly, which meant that the carnage had occurred below decks in the engine spaces.

"Aye Aye sir!" The helmswoman said and spun the wheel hard to port yet again and the great battlecruiser HMS _Repulse_ battered as she was began to turn away, as did the _Dorsetshire_ which like the _Repulse_ fired a parting salvo, which decimated a enemy light cruiser. At the sametime the _Voyager_ which was burdened with survivors from the _Stuart_ which was either still falling to the ocean's floor or was already on the seafloor turned away and started making smoke. At the sametime the _Cornwall_ rolled over, great gaping wounds visible near her keel, the Heavy Cruiser stayed on the surface for a little while, before she began to slip beneath the waves by the head.

"There goes a fine ship." Roy said as he held his hand up in salute of the _Cornwall_ as she began her final voyage, this time to the bottom of the ocean.

"Agreed sir." The XO said as he watched the scene saluting as well, the _Vampire_ plying back and forth, laying a thick black smokescreen, covering the _Dragon_ and the _Dauntless_ while they worked to pick up the survivors of the _Cornwall_ out of the water. When that task complete the _Dragon_ and the _Dauntless_ turned and went to flank speed to keep up with the _Repulse_ as she began to retreat to the south away from the enemy fleet at possible speed. With the _Vampire_ in tow.

At first Roy feared that the enemy fleet or what could still fight that is, which was still rather impressive. The enemy had in terms of ships that could still maintain a decent combat speed as well as fight was one moderately damaged _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser, one moderately damaged _Giussano_ -class Light Cruiser, one lightly damaged _Giussano_ -class Light Cruiser, one _Giussano_ -class Light Cruiser that didn't even have it's paint scratched, one moderately damaged _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyer, and one heavily damaged _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyer. However, the artillery exchange had cost them in terms of ships destroyed or crippled the _Admiral_ -class Battlecruiser, two _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser, a _Giussano_ -class Light Cruiser, one _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyer, and three _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyer.

The enemy if they wanted too, could easily chase down and sink the _Repulse_ , _Dorsetshire_ , _Dragon_ , _Dauntless_ , _Vampire_ , and _Voyager_. The British and Australian High School Ships that had engaged what had to be an enemy patrol fleet had taken a brutal battering and were in no shape to fight another pitched battle. The _Repulse_ had lost a main gun turret, her secondary and AA battery on the starboard side had been brutalized as had her superstructure, the _Dorsetshire_ had taken a beating as well not to mention she was nursing a jagged wound in her side, courtesy of an Oxygen Torpedo which was a real nasty piece of work, the _Dragon_ and _Dauntless_ while they had been damaged they were also both burdened by survivors, the _Vampire_ had lost her fire control the thing had just quit during the battle she could still fire but trying to hit a moving target while you are moving and both are going a fair rate of speed and you are only using optics, well you needed to be like fucking Hawkeye or something to actually hit something, the _Voyager_ was burdened by over 100 survivors from the _Stuart_ and thus she was even more crowded than usual.

Yet even Roy was surprised when the _Mogador_ -class that could still move and fight began to give chase, however something caught his eye. The flashing of a signal lamp, relaying a message to the _Mogador_ -class from the _Admiral_ -class. The message read "Let them go, they have likely just been through hell and I doubt that there ships are up for another pitched battle like we just had, I know for a fact that some of our ships that can still fight wouldn't last 10 minutes."

This caused Roy to let out an immense sigh of relief, the enemy wasn't going to chase down and destroy his force. Even though they had lost a large number of ships and a good number of sailors, they had really stick it to the enemy fleet, showing that High School Fleet Ships, combined with good old guts and a good measure of luck and they could beat even professionals in battle. Although analysts will likely classify this action, at least against the enemy patrol fleet a strategic stalemate but a tactical pyrrhic victory, even though Roy would classify this overall as a smashing strategic victory but a pretty devastating tactical defeat as well, due to the losses that they sustained. They couldn't trade the enemy for ships like this, they just didn't have the numbers for it.

"Sir! Here is a casualty report, from the battle." Roy's XO said, she had plastered onto her face a look of pure sorrow, as if she was greatly saddened by what she had read.

"Thank you exce. As you were." Roy said before he began to look over the report, he scowled.

The _Stuart_ , like many Great War Era Destroyers and to a degree some of the Cruisers as well, had full crews because there simply wasn't enough space to put in all of the automation required for 30s and 40s era ships. However if a ship had it's main battery in open or semi-enclosed gun mounts, automation was a lot harder to do for the main battery. Yet the losses were grave, the _Stuart_ had lost fifty of her crew when she had blown up and sank, the majority of the losses happened below decks, anyone who was below decks amidships or manning the aft torpedo launcher, as well as anyone who was on guns 'P' and 'X' hadn't made it, almost everyone else was injured in some way. _Cornwall_ had a crew of sixty-five and not everyone in that crew compliment was in the High School Fleet Program only roughly fifty-two of the crew on the _Cornwall_ were actually in the High School Fleet Program the rest of the compliment were in the Royal Marines High School Program. Out of the sixty-five that had crewed the _Cornwall_ eight hadn't made it and another fourteen were badly injured with everyone else injured in someway. The _Voyager_ and _Vampire_ hadn't lost a single soul, the same was true for the _Dragon_ but the _Dauntless_ had lost two out of her crew compliment. Then there was his ship, the _Repulse_ ; out of her crew of one hundred ten, even though about eighty-five of those were actually in the High School Fleet Program and the rest were in the Royal Marines High School Program, she had lost eight Royal Marines and twelve sailors. Most of that had happened when the 'Y' Turret had been penetrated and blown apart and the entire eight man crew inside of the thing. A large number of the crew onboard the _Repulse_ were injured as well, some seriously.

After three hours, Roy had the _Repulse_ and everyone else stand down from action stations. "Number one, you have the bridge. I am going to be in my quarters, I am not to be disturbed until we reach the RV point." He said.

"Aye aye sir!" His XO replied.

"Thank you." Roy said, before he left the bridge and went to quarters. He felt like he needed to cry, he made a note in his phone to see the chief medical officer onboard.

* * *

 _Onboard USS_ Texas _BB-35_

 _Following Admiral Riggs_

Admiral Riggs hated what he had to do. While the force for Operation: FIRST STRIKE had been out on their mission and under full radio silence. These Kraken Fleet sons of bitches had launched an invasion of Luzon, staging multiple landings. They had moved swiftly, going on a rampage through the Island of Luzon. As if that was bad enough, long range artillery of the tube, MLRS, and the conventionally tipped Iskander SRBM variety had launched a nearly continous bombardment of Manila while ground forces geared up to take the city. But the risk of having the entire fleet sunk or captured at anchor was simply too great, thus with a heavy heart he had ordered that the Operational Base of Operations for the Malay Barrier Defense Command be changed to Surabaya, Java it hadn't been an easy choice. Plus considering the fact that they had gotten the encrypted radio message from the _Repulse_ and the _Endurance_ that stated that the mission had commenced about a day ago. The Kraken Fleet had to know that there was someone who dared to oppose them. Thus, the last thing that was needed was the only real fighting force capable of fighting them to be caught at anchor and destroyed.

It still didn't help with the fact that they had to leave the Philippines totally unprotected but they didn't have a choice. Riggs knew that he was likely going to burn in hell for leaving the Philippines at the mercy of the enemy. However, he would be damned if the entire Malay Barrier Defense Command Surface and Subsurface fleet was sunk at anchor, because then the Kraken Fleet would just run roughshod all over the Malay Barrier region. He _wouldn't_ allow that.

So, he sent a radio message explaining that the Malay Barrier Defense Command was relocating to Surabaya. However, one thing he did notice, was that Blue Mermaid Airship patrols had stepped up dramatically, not to mention on more than one occasion he saw one dropping some sonobuoys in the water. Then however he got information he didn't need at all.

A Indonesian Blue Mermaid Airship had done some snooping around in the area of the Sunda Strait and had discovered something that essentially put a torpedo in the revised return to base route for Operation: FIRST STRIKE. A considerable force was discovered, it was composed of one _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyer, two _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyers, one _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser, one _Chapayev_ -class Light Cruiser, and to make things worse, that wasn't the worst thing they had discovered; the flagship of this blockading squadron was a titanic mother of a Battleship that could probably take HMS _Repulse_ , HMS _Prince of Wales_ , USS _Texas_ , USS _Nome_ , and USS _White Mountain_ ACR-17 on _all at once_ and win, a single _Fuji_ -class Superdreadnought (Design A-150 Battleship).

Word that a _Fuji_ -class was present in the Sunda Strait had made Rigg's heart drop right into his stomach and he consulted Hart and Doorman and they had voiced similar rumblings. A _Fuji_ -class was basically a _Yamato_ -class Super Battleship on crack and a champion in the Ironman competition not to mention was a Heavyweight champion in boxing.

The _Fuji_ -class was 975 feet long, had a beam at the waterline of 128.5 feet with an overall beam of 135 feet, with a draught of 36 feet at standard load with a draft of 43 feet at full load, as if that wasn't bad enough, her armament was nasty as all fucking hell with a main battery composed of eight 51cm/45 caliber Type 94 Naval Guns, a secondary battery composed of twelve 12.7cm/50 Caliber 4th Year Type Naval Guns which were improved 12.7cm/50 caliber 3rd Year Type Naval Guns, in the fact that they were hand loaded and power rammed plus it used separate ammunition and not bag ammunition putting them on par with American 5in/38s, combined with six 15.5cm/60 caliber 3rd Year Type Naval Guns with one forward and one aft, plus about twenty-four Type 96 25mm AT/AA Guns, but the worst part about her was her armor, this monster's belt was 46.5 centimeters thick, her turret armor at least the faces of the turrets were 65cm for the main battery just like the famed _Yamato_ -class Battleships, for the secondary it was still rather impressive at 15cm thick, her deck armor over 75% of her deck was 21.59 centimeters thick and the deck armor over 25% of her deck was 24.13 centimeters thick, the barbettes for the main gun turrets were 35.6 centimeters thick, her torpedo belt was impenetrable to lightweight ASW torpedoes, her bulkheads were 18 centimeters thick, she was fast too, capable of moving at 25.5 knots at flank speed. The _Fuji_ -class Super Dreadnought would all but laugh at anything they could throw at it, the _Repulse_ best bet she had was literally brutalize this monster's superstructure with High Explosive rounds, but even that would be difficult because a _Fuji_ -class well it's Conning tower was lathered in armor 31.5 centimeters thick.

Bottomline, a fucking miracle would be needed for the ships that had partaken in Operation: FIRST STRIKE to break through the blockade and to freedom and more importantly a hero's welcome for doing something so incredibly ballsy it would likely have every single ship that took part awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Besides, it was so much better to have a hero's welcome and large celebration party if the ships and the brave _men and women_ not the schoolboys and schoolgirls who crewed said ships came back alive. Because in Admiral Riggs's eyes, the students who manned the various ships in the Malay Barrier Defense Command weren't schoolboys and schoolgirls they were brave men and women, Doorman and Hart had also said something similar along those lines.

Mainly because it took incredible courage to stand up against a force that was obviously a trained, professional, and lethal fighting force. Particularly when you barely had any training. So, they should celebrate their victories now, before it all goes to hell. Mainly because luck will only get you so far before you run out of luck and then you have to rely on what training you got as well as putting faith in your comrades in arms and their training as well, which in the case of the first years who were scattered throughout the fleet wasn't much.

* * *

 _Near the entrance of the Sunda Strait_

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Following Akeno Misaki_

It was a beautiful day Akeno decided. They the _Endurance_ had refueled from the _Repulse_ 's fuel bunkers as had the _Tokoro_ , _Dragon_ , _Dauntless_ , and the destroyers. However they had been forced to stop at The Settlement on Christmas Island which had no Blue Mermaid presence nor a Kraken Fleet presence. So, considering the fact that the _Dorsetshire_ 's and the _Repulse_ 's fuel bunkers had been starting to suck air from all the refueling and steaming they had been doing. The put in at The Settlement also known as Flying Fish Cove where they had refueled.

Now however they had made their sprint to the Sunda Strait and were now 110 kilometers from the entrance of said strait when Machiko saw a signal lamp flashing on the _Dorsetshire_.

" _Captain, it looks like the_ Dorsetshire _is requesting for permission to leave the formation to make for Tjilatjap for repairs. They are saying that their is a drydock their that is big enough to accept the_ Dorsetshire _. Her captain is arguing that the sooner the_ Dorsetshire _enters drydock, the sooner that she can return to the fight."_ Machiko said as she deciphered the morse code that the signal light was using.

"Ok thanks Machiko. Keep us posted on the situation as it develops." Akeno said.

" _Yes Captain!"_ Machiko replied.

As it turned out commander Fisher on the _Repulse_ was all for it and so, they watched as the _Dorsetshire_ turned away and left the task force behind and sailed over the horizon, heading south. To Tjilatjap or Cilacap as it was known, were a drydock waited and much needed repairs.

"Captain, here's the latest weather report for the Sunda Strait during the time we will be transiting it." Kouko said.

"Oh? What does the weather report say?" Akeno asked.

"Winds will be coming out of North Northeast at 7 knots, swells are going to be 1 to 2.5 meters high, that is for the first part of the transit, however, we should expect some heavy squalls, which means heavy rain, winds of up to 23 knots and 4 meter high swells. Thunder and lightning will be in these various squalls, waterspouts are also possible. Sounds like your normal afternoon in the Malay Barrier area." Kouko said, rain was pretty common in the Malay Barrier, so much so, that it pretty much rained at least once a day, so having to sail through squalls in the Malay Barrier was just part of the job.

Yet, if anything, the fact that squalls were pretty damn common in the Malay Barrier, and the fact that they actually often contained thunder and lighting; had helped Akeno with her fear of lighting.

It was at this moment that Katrina entered the bridge. "Hey Bosun! How are you doing today?" Rin asked cheerfully.

"Oh nothing much, got to admit, though. Something tells me that Tama could if you give her the right set of naval rifles, probably nail a destroyer from a range of over 30 kilometers. From what I heard, you put all fifteen rounds that you fired at that enemy MBT within ten meters of it. That is damn impressive, to tell you the truth, I actually shudder at the thought of what you could do if you become the gunnery officer on a ship with radar directed gunfire control." Katrina said, a praising tone in her voice.

"Thanks, it was nothing, really." Tama said a faint blush visible on her face.

"Nonsense, if anything you are an expert; no an artist actually in the art of Naval Gunnery. You know your stuff, I am surprised that when you were a freshman that you weren't assigned to something bigger than a Destroyer." Katrina said.

Tama blushed, "I guess it was just what the computer or whatever they use to figure out who gets what ship decided for me." She said.

Katrina shrugged "Yeah I guess, that happened to me, I wanted to be the Bosun's Mate on a destroyer, instead I become the Bosun's Mate on the _Texas_ , great big Dreadnought Battleship. Powerful sucker but somewhat slow, however she does have ten 14in/45 Caliber Mark 12 Naval Guns which are really just 14in/45 Caliber Mark 8 Naval Guns but they have a Chromium lined barrel, the Mark 8s are really just constructionally upgraded 14in/45 Caliber Mark 1 Naval Guns.

"That's pretty confusing, I will admit that." Mei said.

"Tell me about it! It was so annoying, just ugh. But in terms of performance the Mark 12 and the Mark 8 14in/45 Caliber Naval Gun was pretty much identical but the Mark 12 has longer barrel life. So yeah, I mean the ole _Texas_ is a good ship, but is just too big for my liking." Katrina said.

"Really, you didn't like being on a _battleship_ of all things? I mean those things are the kings of the oceans!" Mashiro exclaimed, stunned.

"Eh, too big for my liking. I like small and fast _much_ better." Katrina replied.

"Oh, so basically the largest thing you would be comfortable with would be the _Marblehead_?" Mashiro asked.

Katrina nodded.

Suddenly and without warning, a voice tub emitted a piercing screech. Moments later Uda Megumi's voice came through the speaking tube.

" _Captain! We got company out there. Radar is beginning to paint a picture for us, we aren't alone out here. Radar is making out three small contacts, one medium sized contact, one big contact, and absolutely_ **tremendous** _contact. Can't figure out what they are at the moment."_ Megumi said tersely.

"Understood Megumi. Let us know if anything changes." Akeno said.

" _Can do skipper."_ Megumi replied.

 _Once more into the breach._ Akeno thought, because something told her that the contacts that radar had picked up _weren't_ going to be friendly.

A few moments later Tsugumi's voice came through a voice tube. " _Captain! Message from the_ Repulse _, they have gotten a message from command! They have just relayed it to us!"_ Tsugumi said her voice clear with panic.

"Okay, what does it say Tsugumi, is everything alright?" Akeno asked.

" _No Captain! A friendly Blue Mermaid Airship did some poking around in the area! The enemy has blockaded the Sunda Strait! The message the_ Repulse _sent. It contains force composition for the enemy!"_ Tsugumi replied the panic still in her voice, but also something else was creeping into her tone, fear.

"Alright, so what is the composition of hostile forces?" Akeno asked.

The answer that Tsugumi gave chilled them all to the bone. " _Force composition has been confirmed as follows: One_ Mogador _-class Large Destroyer, two_ Le Hardi _-class Destroyers, one_ Chapayev _-class Light Cruiser, one_ Zao _-class Heavy Cruiser, and one_ Fuji _-class Superdreadnought Battleship!"_ Tsugumi said, her voice filled with panic and fear.

That was all Akeno needed for what she did next. She engaged the voice wide speaking tube. "All hands to your stations! All hands to your stations!" she barked out. A few moments later, the sound of a trumpet being played fairly badly cut through the air, followed by the sounds of running as the crew of the _Tokoro_ got out of bed and sprinting to their stations. Mashiro excused herself and then went sprinting aft to man the auxiliary conn. At the sametime, hats were exchanged for combat helmets and Ballistic Vests were donned.

Moments later the sharp trilling cry of a bosun's whistle cut through the air, this was quickly followed by a general quarters alarm sounding, a thundering _GONG! GONG! GONG!_ That carried over the air, the sounds of people running the sound of boots on wood went through the air.

Then the TBS squawked. " _This is commander Fisher onboard the_ Repulse _, as most of you are aware. A tremendous enemy fleet stands between us and freedom. We have already come to far to give up the fight. I can tell you right now, we won't let them stomp us. Here is the battle plan._ Tokoro _,_ Dragon _,_ Dauntless _, you are to engage that enemy light cruiser, hit him with everything you got,_ Vendetta _and_ Waterhen _I have been told that you got warshot torpedoes, put them to work against that_ Zao _-class Heavy Cruiser,_ Vampire _and_ Voyager _you are to engage enemy_ Le Hardi _-class Destroyers, leave the_ Mogador _-class Large Destroyer to us and the same goes for that_ Fuji _-class. The_ Repulse _is only thing that can with relative safety handle a_ Mogador _and a_ Fuji _."_ Roy said over the TBS, his voice a facade, he was likely just as terrified as everyone else, but if he showed it, then that would be bad.

A new voice piped up, the commander of the _Endurance_ , Akeno realized. " _Commander Fisher, I realize that the_ Repulse _can easily handle a_ Mogador _with her secondary battery, but if that_ Fuji _puts even a bit of angling on, your 15in/42 caliber BL MK I guns will never be able to penetrate him. As it stands, 15in/42 caliber APC rounds will struggle to penetrate a_ Fuji _-class, even from close range. Plus even with the best amount of angling on the seven seas, a 20in/45 caliber round which weighs two tons, will just laugh at your armor, that monster's secondary guns will take apart what's left of our task force as well, that is not even saying what sort of damage a direct hit from just_ one shell _from that monster's mains will do major damage to my ship."_ She said.

" _I am well aware of that, however, I have a plan in my head. We will hit that guy HE though, just to do some damage."_ Fisher said.

" _Roger that_ Repulse _."_ The commander of the _Endurance_ said.

Time passed quickly, before Akeno and the crew of the _Tokoro_ knew it, they had entered the Sunda Strait. It didn't take long for them to spot the first enemy ship. The _Chapayev_ -class opened fire with it's powerful 152mm/57 caliber Naval Guns, and sent High Explosive rounds screaming toward the _Repulse_ , the shells impacted and splashed across the relatively thick armor of the powerful battlecruiser. However Katrina noticed something as the _Repulse_ 's two functional gun turrets traversed, and began tracking the enemy light cruiser. It was sailing broadside on to the _Repulse_ just to bring it's full salvo weight into the fight.

 ***BGM: Zipang: Battle Miral***

"I think that enemy light cruiser is about to get taught a very nasty lesson." Katrina said grimly.

"Why's that?" Akeno asked.

"I play World of Warships and well, there is this saying that the gaming community for World of Warships uses. It's this, 'Sailing Broadside onto a Battleship? That's a paddlin'.'" Katrina replied.

Before Akeno could respond, there was a thunderous overpressure and a rushing heavy sounding _boom_ as the _Repulse_ salvoed her four remaining guns. Her forward guns, the massive APC Mark XXIb (6crh) rounds were in flight for about ten seconds. It became clear as the enemy light cruiser, just before the shells hit, began to heel over that her captain had realized he'd fucked up. Then the shells impacted, all four of them, they burrowed deeply into the enemy light cruiser, and then in a titanic series of explosions as a trio of magazines detonated, the enemy ship was wiped from existence.

" _Hell yeah!_ " Katrina cheered as she pumped her fist and she had good reason too, first blood was there's.

But twenty minutes later, everything almost went to hell, the _Zao_ -class suddenly appeared, flanked on each side by the two _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyers. Every single ship opened fire on the enemy ships. 4in, 4.5in, 5.5in, 6in, and 15in shells screamed down range. At first, in this engagement, everything went well. Then the _Zao_ -class opened fire.

"Incoming! Incoming!" Machiko cried as she saw the blazing yellow tracers streak toward the _Tokoro_.

A few moments later, the collision alarm started to wail and then Akeno cried over the ship wide speaking tube. " _All hands! Brace for heavy impact!"_ Moments later six 8in shells came screaming down. Four missed the _Tokoro_ completely, one impaled her funnel and detonated, spraying shrapnel everywhere as the funnel was simply shredded by the high explosive round. The other round impaled the _Tokoro_ near the number two gun mount and exploded. A tremendous sheet of flame was thrown upward and shrapnel sprayed in all directions. Tsugumi found herself suddenly dashed to her seat by flying shrapnel as did Megumi and Kaede. Heavier fragments and pieces of shrapnel went screaming through the bridge. Somehow most of it missed everyone, although Akeno grunted as a several pieces of heavy fragment slammed into her vest. Another piece of shrapnel nicked Katrina's ear, while a separate piece went screaming through Kouko's iPad and then hit her full in the chest right in the armor and put her on her butt.

"Everyone alright?!" Akeno shouted.

She got chorus of replies saying that apart from being a little rattled they were alright.

" _Holy christ! Hard to starboard right now! The_ Endurance _is maneuvering erratically!"_ Machiko shouted as she spotted the Singaporean Blue Mermaid vessel rapidly heeling over, cutting a turn that seemed impossible for something her size to do.

"Hard to starboard! Port engine back full! Starboard ahead full!" Akeno ordered as she looked around, Katrina had already left the bridge, probably to get the damage control team to the area where they had been hit.

Nevertheless, the order with one engine going full reverse and the other engine going full ahead meant that the _Tokoro_ could pull a lot tighter turn than she normally could. In this case, it saved the _Tokoro_ as the reason for the _Endurance_ 's sudden and rather wild maneuver came streaking into view at forty knots, a spread of torpedoes. It became clear that if the _Tokoro_ hadn't turned when she had, she would have eaten at least one torpedo maybe the entire spread, it had come from one of the _Le Hardi_ s judging by how many fish were in the water.

Guns were still hammering away as the _Tokoro_ pulled clear of the _Endurance_ and added her own guns to slugfest. However, it was clear that the _Repulse_ had focused all of her fire on the _Zao_ -class, both of her forward gun turrets had been detonated, and were in varying states of destruction, and where the bridge sat was simply a great gaping wound, flames were pouring from every possible crevice and burning fuel oil was all over her decks. Then the torpedoes cooked off and blew the backend of the enemy heavy cruiser to pieces.

However the _Dauntless_ was in trouble, she was being hammered by one of the _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyers and the _Dragon_ wasn't in any condition to help her, in fact the _D_ -class Light Cruiser was dead in the water, having eaten a torpedo amidships, which had opened her up near the keel right at the bulkhead that separated the two turbines and thus lost almost everything at once. The other _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyer on the other hand had well 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' Problems, the _Vampire_ , _Vendetta_ , _Voyager_ , and _Waterhen_ had all teamed up and were ruthlessly smashing the enemy destroyer with high explosive rounds. The destroyer was almost entirely bathed in fire from where her funnel was aft. The enemy destroyer came to a wallowing halt, as her battered engines gave out.

When it became clear that the _Dragon_ was lost because she had no turbines which meant no pumps to fight the flooding, they had to abandon ship. Rapid Insertion Boats from the _Endurance_ came and commenced rescue operations and began ferrying the survivors from the _Dragon_ which was pretty much the entire crew plus the survivors from the _Cornwall_.

However now with the majority of the enemy forces eliminated, the ships that had taken part in Operation: First Strike could almost taste freedom, sensing this, they cranked it up to 28 knots and began a mad dash. However a large squall stood ten kilometers past Anak Krakatau and suddenly visible from this squall, there shapes vague but getting sharper with every passing moment as they raced to prevent the ships of Task Force FIRST STRIKE from breaking out of the Sunda Strait and to safety. They appeared, the _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyer and the monstrous, hulking, invincible bulk of the _Fuji_ -class Superdreadnought.

 ***BGM Ends***

* * *

 ***BGM Battleship: Full Attack***

 _Onboard the_ Repulse

 _Following Roy Fisher_

"Well bugger, so much for plan A." Roy's XO said as he looked at the two enemy warships. The _Mogador_ -class was acting like a timid child it seemed, hiding in the _Fuji_ -class Super Dreadnought's lee. However, Roy figured that it would wait like that, until it saw the perfect moment to strike and would sprint toward the friendly ships for a daring gun and torpedo attack. Her target would likely be the _Endurance_ , the LPD had already dodged one torpedo attack, but if that thing got close enough and launched it's fish, the _Endurance_ could be in serious trouble.

To make matters worse, the _Repulse_ wouldn't be able to scratch that great big bastard of a battleship. It was simply impossible for that to happen plus the _Repulse_ while she could get close enough, according to the data charts, even then it would be iffy for penetrating that monster. Which meant that there was only one thing to do, in this case the motto of the HMS _Repulse_ fit what they had to do to make sure that this thing couldn't destroy the entire task force fit rather well: _Qui Tangit Frangitur_ or simply "Who touches me is broken".

Roy realized he wasn't coming home, because someone had to guide her in, with unflinching aim, on a course that terminated right in the goddamn side of that _Fuji_ -class.

"Helmsman! Bring her about, make your course 357!" Roy said coolly.

"Sir?" The helmsman said surprised.

"Make your course 357." Roy repeated coolly.

"Sir, that's a collision course for that _Fuji_ -class!" The helmsman said stunned.

"I am well aware of that, in fact that is what I intend to do. I want the rest of you off the _Repulse_ right now. She's a fine ship and has done a great job, but this is her final battle. Almost nothing we have can scratch that bloody bastard. Except the _Repulse_ , by ramming that bastard at flank speed, if you want to get off, I won't blame you. If you stay, well I would want you off this ship anyway." Roy said crisply.

The XO, sighed. "Sir, I-" he began to say. Only for Roy to cut him off.

"I want you off of this ship, right now." Roy said.

"Sir, what I was going to say to that, was Bullshit! We rode out of England together on this warhorse, we are going to ride with her all the way to the end. It's how she would want it, I know that for a fact." The XO said, with a voice filled with determination.

Roy nodded, while he wanted his crew to get off, he also knew, that they would likely succeed in ramming the son of a bitch that could cruelly smote them all from existence if they all worked together.

"Alright! Make your course 357! All Ahead Emergency Flank! Signal the fleet, have the 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' lay a smokescreen to cover the _Endurance_ , tell them we are going for a ram, tell them, good luck and god bless." Roy ordered.

The crew sprang to their tasks, the engine telegraph rang up 'All Ahead Emergency Flank' which meant that the boilers were going to be pushed to design overload and every ounce of power that they could squeeze out of the boilers was going to be sent to the propeller shafts. The _Repulse_ came around while the other ships angled toward the south, and they too began to run at flank speed. Trying to get the hell away from the _Fuji_ -class as it turned just like Roy hoped and unshadowed it's entire main battery.

Then the big guns on the _Fuji_ -class salvoed, a huge tremendous fireball seemingly exploded from the gun tubes of the massive 51cm guns that totally obscured the Superdreadnought from view. Eight tremendous tracers clawed skyward, the massive shells, each weighing over two tons, screamed through the air, they actually glinted in the light. They went screaming past the _Repulse_ and landed among the fleeing allied ships. Then the forward battery on the _Repulse_ fired, lobbing four 15in/42 caliber High Explosive rounds toward the enemy flagship.

Three of the rounds splashed harmlessly across the incredibly belt armor in greasy fireballs, the fourth shell went screaming into the 5in guns and detonated. As the fire and flame cleared, it became clear that several of the guns had been damaged or destroyed. It did get the attention of the secondary battery, because the fore and aft 6in guns traversed and then fired at the same moment the 5in guns traversed and then fired.

The secondary guns quickly filled the area that the _Repulse_ was in fiery tracers, AP rounds from the 6in guns bounced off the angled bow, flipping end for end, while 5in/50 caliber High Explosive Rounds splashed across the armor of the battlecruiser as she approached. The big guns thundered again, lobbing eight more tremendous rounds, the rate of fire was rather impressive, 2.52 rounds per minute. As the shells landed among the friendly ships a tremendous orange flash was seen in the smoke.

* * *

 _Onboard the Tokoro_

"Holy shit! The _Vampire_ has been hit!" Mei yelled in shock as the salvo of 51cm shells landed among the allied battlegroup, one shell had connected with the _Vampire_ had basically drilled who knew how deep into the ship before the impressive bursting charge that the 51cm/45 caliber High Explosive Round had, 186 pounds of explosive.

The detonation of the shell blew the back of the _Vampire_ apart in a horrific detonation that likely killed everyone in the back end of the ship. The _Vampire_ slowed down almost instantly as her two turbines were tossed from their mountings, both shafts were also violently snapped, plus with a gut wrenching _fwoop_ the bottom of the _V_ -class Destroyer blew out as well from the ship. She began to sag in the area where her aft deckhouse _used_ to be. It was a miracle that the torpedoes, depth charges, or magazine was detonated. Yet the _Vampire_ wasted no time sinking, almost immediately sinking by the stern.

As the _Tokoro_ steam past the dying destroyer, they really didn't see many people at all, if any from the _Vampire_ in the water. Everyone aboard the destroyer had likely been killed when that shell had detonated. The _Tokoro_ had barely finished passing the remains of the _Vampire_ when, with a deep, mournful _whoosh_ the HMAS _Vampire_ disappeared, beneath the waves.

"Machiko! Is anyone from the _Vampire_ in the water?" Akeno asked frantically.

" _Yes! Two, maybe three people! They are struggling to remain afloat! It's a goddamned miracle!"_ Machiko said briskly.

That was all Akeno needed. She went to the voice tube for the Auxiliary conn. "Shiro-chan! The ship is yours until I return! There are survivors in the water from the _Vampire_! No one is stopping to pick them up!" Akeno said quickly.

" _Captain, I understand. It wouldn't be the_ Tokoro _with you doing something like this. Go get them captain!"_ Mashiro replied quickly. Knowing that if they turned around, they would likely leave the protection of the smokescreen, that would give that _Fuji_ -class a _real target_ , not to mention, while the _Tokoro_ was fast, she didn't have any armor to speak of, a single 51cm/45 caliber round punching through her armor and detonating as it hit a boiler or something would likely blow the bottom right out of the _Tokoro_.

Moving quickly, she came to a davit that held one of the _Tokoro_ 's two Honda Watercraft Skipper Highspeed Launches. These things were capable in a straight line of reaching a speed of 47 knots, although there were RHIBs that could outrun it, Skippers were preferred because they were so sleek and fast. She got into the thing, and engaged the motor for the lift. The davit began to lower the Skipper into the water, the thing slapped into water, about three seconds after she finished starting it up.

The lines released and she floored it, the engine of the Skipper unleashed a feral yet also healthy sounding rumble. The engine went from a feral yet healthy rumble, to a loud, feral scream as the engine accepted fuel at a high rate and the pump jets forced water at a prodigious rate through them. The thing shot forward like it had been blasted out of a cannon.

She turned away quickly from the _Tokoro_ and went flying toward where the _Vampire_ had been sunk, when she entered the debris field that marked were the _V_ -class Destroyer had been. She saw two survivors, both were clinging to a piece of flotsam, however they both showed signs that they had been badly injured.

"Over here mate! Help!" One of them cried in a pained voice.

Akeno maneuvered the Skipper as close as she dared to the piece of flotsam, and recoiled when she saw the wound on the one that had cried out. The young girl had lost a two or three fingers from the look of it.

That is when Akeno saw that she was holding someone who was unconscious, Amelia Dawson the captain of _Vampire_. "Take the skipper first! Get her aboard!" The young girl, possibly a member of the bridge crew or something said sharply.

"Hai!" Akeno said, as with some difficulty she grabbed Amelia and with some effort got her into the backseat. Amelia had been badly ravaged by the devastation that 20in projectile had wrought to her ship. Several large pieces of shrapnel were embedded in her midsection, she had a bloody gash across her forehead, and was missing two fingers and her thumb on her left hand. It a miracle she was still alive. Akeno turned around to help the person who had told her to get the _Vampire_ 's skipper to safety. Only to see that she wasn't there anymore.

 _She's gone._ Akeno realized with a start, as she realized that whoever had kept Amelia afloat, had likely known that she wasn't going to last much longer.

The freight train roar of another salvo made Akeno realize that it was likely safer aboard the _Tokoro_ than a Skipper launch. Akeno gunned the engine and raced to catch up with the _Tokoro_ ; it didn't take long, it also didn't help that the _Tokoro_ slowed down to recover the Skipper. The medical team were waiting for Akeno, or to be more accurate Katrina was, as was the stretcher bearers. However Katrina took one look at the shape Amelia was in, she cursed creatively, then with all the care of loving mother it seemed, she took Amelia from Akeno's arms and then sprinted forward, toward the wardroom.

Akeno raced back up to the bridge, just as she did so, there was horrible crunch and the _Tokoro_ shook horribly. Moments later Mashiro's shocked voice came over the speaking tube. " _JESUS CHRIST! We just had what had to be a 20in AP round take the entire number three gun mount right off! That was right above my head! It didn't explode! Must have been a dud!"_ She cried fearfully although there was a hint of her being grateful as well.

That _Fuji_ -class had switched to Armor-Piercing Rounds, but the question was why. Akeno's eyes widened as she realized why.

* * *

 _HMS_ Repulse

 _Roy Fisher commanding_

It was a miracle at how close the _Repulse_ had gotten before someone realized that there was a _Renown_ -class Battlecruiser bearing down on them, with the intention to ram. Before the guns began to traverse rather slowly to point at the old battlecruiser.

The deck quivered under Roy's feet, the way it felt, it sounded as if _Repulse_ herself was scared. However, who wouldn't be? A _Fuji_ -class was laden down with more armor than any other battleship class that had ever put to sea; the main battery guns that a _Fuji_ -class carried were the largest ever mounted on a battleship. The secondary battery, was still putting up accurate but ineffective fire at the _Repulse_. When suddenly with either a order from the _Fuji_ -class or of her captain's own accord, who could say. But either way a massive threat suddenly showed itself, when the _Mogador_ -class heeled over toward the smokescreen and went to flank speed.

"Fuck! That _Mogador_ -class is making a torpedo run against the _Endurance_! He has to be! Secondary battery, can you stop him?" Roy shouted, his tone explaining the gravity of the situation. If that _Mogador_ -class entered the smokescreen, the allied ships inside of it would be in serious trouble.

There was no reply, but instead the port 4.5in guns slewed out and opened fire. Thunder as quick as they could manage. While against a _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser a 4.5in gun wouldn't really hurt a _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser. Against a _Mogador_ -class however, it was more than sufficient. The guns fired again and again, cycling as fast as they could, suddenly a large explosion convulsed the _Mogador_ -class and the Large Destroyer jack-knifed, her bow hung in the air, amid a titanic fireball, the destroyer quickly slipped beneath the waves.

The 20in guns finished traversing toward the _Repulse_ and they fired, eight tremendous fireballs exploded out of the gunports, signaling the arrival of lethal cargo. Seven enormous shells missed the battlecruiser, one shell did impact, tearing a massive hole in the armored conning tower, going who knows how deep. Then when 70 pounds of high explosive detonated, everyone onboard the _Repulse_ was tossed to the deck, amid the chaos a high pitched scream of terror came from Seaman Moore via the voice tube, as the entire foremast, which had the crow's nest went toppling over the side with an enormous crash as steel rang against steel as well as large splash as the thing entered the water.

When the guns, on that _Fuji_ -class fired again, this the shells, sounding like a dozen heavy freight trains going by at full power roared in, and the _Repulse_ developed two more massive holes in her armored conning tower. It was around this time that the _Fuji_ -class realized what the _Repulse_ was going to do. For oil smoke began to pour out of its stack in a much thicker cloud than previously seen up to this point. Then the forward guns, with Armor-Piercing-Cap shells each weighing nearly a ton, fired. Four huge fireballs followed with a tremendous over pressure, the 15in/42 Caliber Mark I guns roared for what was likely going to be the final time.

Three slammed in the _Fuji_ -class's belt armor and bounced with a ringing _crash_ but the fourth however went flying into superstructure and actually penetrated and then detonated inside, a the battleship barely noticed it, but that had to leave some bumps.

In desperation, the _Fuji_ -class tried to turn in, but by then it was too late. The _Repulse_ was going at 32.7 knots when some 30,000 tons of furious British fighting steel slammed into a belt over 18 inches thick.

It was at this moment in time that Newton's First Law of Motion, in which a body at rest tends to stay at rest, while a body in motion tends to stay in motion reared it's ugly head and proved that it was still the deadliest S.O.B in the world.

With a utterly horrific sounding crash, followed by steel screaming as it was smashed and pushed inward by the great mass of the _Repulse_ slamming into it, not even the incredible thickness of the belt armor of the _Fuji_ -class could survive a flank speed ramming. The bow of the _Repulse_ punctured the belt armor of the _Fuji_ -class and penetrated at least six or seven feet into the side of the enemy Superdreadnought, maybe more. Either way, who knows what caused what happened next to happen. However, it is most likely that a powder case for one of the 5in guns was cracked open and a sparking from some wiring that came crashing down to the level of the floor and ignited the powder. Nevertheless the result was the same.

Everyone aboard both ships was just beginning to gather their wits and pick themselves up off the floor. When a huge explosion tore through the _Fuji_ -class. Moments later, an antiaircraft magazine touched off forward, which lead to the forward three magazines of the _Fuji_ -class, followed moments later by the main magazines for the forward guns on _Repulse_ igniting.

A absolutely massive detonation occurred, in a matter of moments, the _Fuji_ -class and the _Repulse_ simply disintegrated. More thunderclap detonations continued to tear the _Repulse_ apart, as the secondary battery magazines ignited and then exploded.

 ***BGM ends***

In literally two minutes after the first detonation, what was left of both ships, which wasn't much, were hurtling to the bottom of the Sunda Strait.

It was this event, that allowed the ships that had taken part in Operation: FIRST STRIKE to escape and successfully make Surabaya. For them, Operation: FIRST STRIKE was over.

Yet, the Kraken Fleet learned something important, the Malay Barrier Defense Command was willing to due whatever it took to win against the enemy, going even as far to ram enemy warships, just to make sure that friendly ships could escape the battle area, or in this case, ram an enemy warship because it was the only viable option that would work.

At the sametime, the Malay Barrier Defense Command had learned something equally important. The types of enemy ships they could expect to have fielded against them. From fast and lethal French Destroyers in the form of the _Le Hardi_ -class Destroyer and the _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyer, to stupid fast but poorly armored _Giussano_ -class Light Cruisers, to better armored but still quick as hell _Chapayev_ -class Light Cruisers, to lethal _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser which have decent armor combined with powerful guns and nasty as hell torpedoes, to powerful 16in gun armed _Admiral_ -class Battlecruisers, to fast powerfully well armed and well armored _Alasce_ -class Fast Battleships, to just plain overpowered in all areas with the exception of torpedoes _Fuji_ -class Super Dreadnought Battleships, to lastly lethal as hell _Foxtrot_ -class Diesel Electric Attack Submarines. If anything, Operation: FIRST STRIKE proved that the enemy held the advantage in every way and at best all the Malay Barrier Defense Command could hope to do was simply slow the enemy down.

* * *

 **AN: Done! There we go! Finally! Jesus that was hard to write and to keep it flowing. If it's not the best and some parts don't seem that realistic then I am sorry, but I can tell you right now. This story will pretty much be telling of how the ABDA Float tried to hold the Malay Barrier against a the Steamroller that was the Imperial Japanese War Machine but is in the Haifuri universe and has some differences to how history actually went down. For one,** _ **Repulse**_ **and** _ **Prince of Wales**_ **not being sunk at the very start, the American forces having a Battleship as well. Only the** _ **Cornwall**_ **being sunk during the actual Indian Ocean Raid itself, the** _ **Vampire**_ **being sunk in the Sunda Strait with near as dammit to all hands lost, and naturally the fact that there is no aircraft just Zeppelins. There will be other changes, but most will be subtle I can tell you that much.**

 **Anyway take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: When we last left our band of intrepid heroes. They had partaken in a big operation against the Kraken Fleet. However, while the mission was a smashing success, it came at a heavy cost, with only one ship escaping damage, with all of the other ships taking some form of damage, and five ships having been sunk.**

 **Now our heroes are limping toward Surabaya Java, were safe harbor and much needed repairs await them.**

 **Another thing of note the Medals of Honor are a** _ **real**_ **award in Japan, it's awarded to Civilians and there are several types. These Medals have the same appearance in that they bear the stylized characters** **褒章** **on a gilt central disc surrounded by a silver ring of cherry blossoms on the obverse, the only thing that is different is the fact that the color of ribbon varies. Each type is different, the Red Ribbon is awarded to those who risked their lives to save the lives of others, the Green Ribbon is awarded to morally remarkable individuals who have actively taken part in serving the society, the Yellow Ribbon is awarded to individuals who through their diligence and perseverance while engaging in their professional activities, became public role models, the Purple Ribbon is awarded to individuals who have contributed academic and artistic developments, improvements, and accomplishments, the Blue Ribbon is awarded to those who have made significant achievements in the areas of Public Welfare or Public Service, and lastly the Dark Blue Ribbon is awarded to individuals who have made exceptionally generous financial contributions for the well being of the public.**

 **With that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and set sail into this chapter!**

* * *

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Following Akeno Misaki_

Akeno groaned in pain as she woke up to start her shift. She had changed into her Pajamas last night, but while she had been doing so. She had found her midsection had about four nasty bruises, each about the size of a Quarter. Which meant her ballistic vest had saved her life during that hellish battle in the Sunda Strait that had occurred 36 hours ago give or take.

As she got dressed, she made a list of what she had needed to do. She had to go and assess the damage that the _Tokoro_ had taken. Akeno knew it was bad, but she had a feeling it was pretty bad, because while the _Tokoro_ had only taken three hits, one had decimated the funnel, another round had hit near turret two, and lastly they had been hit by a dud 20in APC round that had sheared the entirety of a gun turret off the ship. Either way, _Tokoro_ certainly needed yard time. Another she had to do was find out what the status of supplies was onboard, she had a feeling that they just about out of 14cm ammunition for the main guns not to mention all of their torpedoes had been expended, all they had left was ammunition for the 25mm guns and those wouldn't be that effective in engaging targets, sure they would tear up destroyers no problem, but the problem was getting close enough so they could tear up a destroyer. The last thing that she needed to do, was check on Amelia, her prognosis hadn't been good, she had barely survived the sinking of the HMAS _Vampire_ , which had taken one hit from a 51cm High Explosive Round and it had destroyed the entire backend of the _Vampire_ sinking her so fast, no one had a chance to abandon ship before they were suddenly and violently submerged by water due to how quick the _Vampire_ sank.

Once she was fully dressed, Akeno left her quarters and made her way to the bridge. As she arrived she watched as Rin relieved the navigator who had taken the night shift, however she was also surprised to see Kirkland, she was looking out over the water at the _Endurance_ , yet she had this sad look in her eyes.

"Kirk-chan what's wrong?" Akeno asked.

Kirkland sighed heavily as she looked Akeno in the eyes. "In case you are going to check on Ms. Dawson later on. Just so you know, you won't be able to talk to her, she's still out cold. We transferred her to the _Endurance_ last night. She's going to be transferred to a hospital at Surabaya later today. Also the Kraken Fleet hit Darwin last night. The death toll is in the thousands already, the number of wounded is probably going to be in the hundreds as well; they hit that place hard, with an _Alasce_ -class Fast Battleship, a _Kara_ -class ASW Cruiser, a _Zao_ -class Heavy Cruiser, three _Chapayev_ -class Light Cruisers, a _Mogador_ -class Large Destroyer, and five _Kotlin_ -class Destroyers. Before you ask, it gets worse, they launched a mini-sub operation at the same time in Sydney, they sank the HMAS _Hobart_ and HMAS _Darwin_ at anchor. The Australian Government from what radio messages we have been able to receive, they are currently going Ape right now, they are demanding to find out who attacked them." She said.

"I can imagine. Anything else I should know about?" Akeno asked.

"Yeah, we were damn lucky we didn't have a full stock of ammunition, otherwise that hit we took forward near mount 52, would have blown us straight to Timbuktoo. As it stands, all of the internal machinery was completely wrecked by that hit. Which means that beside Mount 53 which needs to be replaced because well it was ripped off the ship, mount 52 also needs to be replaced as well. Before you ask, I also took inventory of the amount of ammunition we have left for the main battery and we have exactly _twenty_ rounds left on the entire ship." Kirkland said with a tired smile.

"So how long will we need for repairs?" Akeno asked, amazed that the damage was _that_ bad, she had known it was bad, but she hadn't expected it to be _that_ bad.

"Something tells me, we will be out of action for quite a while, at least a month maybe more. Either way, we are probably going to have some major refit or retrofit or something of that nature done. Because well, we barely have enough ammunition on the ship to sink a patrol boat, plus we have no torpedoes aboard so we can't even scratch a Heavy Cruiser, Battlecruiser, or Battleship if one comes knocking." Kirkland said.

"I know that, however, considering the fact that we are in the Java Sea and are currently sprinting for safety anything that wants to catch us will have to hussle to do so." Akeno said.

"True, that is most certainly true. However if anything we should make Surabaya in a couple of hours." Kirkland said.

* * *

 _Surabaya Java_

 _Several Hours later_

 _The return of Task Force:_ FIRST STRIKE

The surviving ships that had partaken in Operation: FIRST STRIKE limped into Surabaya Java. With the exception of the RSS _Endurance_ every single ship had been hit by enemy fire. Pilot boats plied across the water, delivering pilots to the various ships which were then guided into port via the Madura Strait, once they cleared the strait, the ships were then handed over to tugboats which brought them up to the quay's. Once the ships were tied up at the quay's the crew disembarked.

It really become endearing to see ships which were bearing signs of having been through hell, with the exception of the _Endurance_ , she hadn't even had her paint job scratched. The crew of the _Endurance_ gave high praise for the High School Ships and their crews, how they basically stared death in the face and it blink first. That was something not many High School Fleet Students around the world could say that they had done before.

Yet, it was clear that the students had been through hell as well, not to mention, almost every single ship was flying their flag at half mast as they entered port. Then they found out about the losses, HMS _Stuart_ ripped apart by enemy gunfire, HMS _Cornwall_ taken apart by a combination of gunfire and torpedoes, HMAS _Vampire_ obliterated by an enemy Super Dreadnought, HMS _Dragon_ sunk by a torpedo, and lastly HMS _Repulse_ whose crew had sacrificed themselves to sink an enemy Superdreadnought by ramming the thing at flank speed. The number of casualties was just over two hundred dead, most of those had occurred when the HMS _Repulse_ had sank with all hands.

Then there was the fact that the HMS _Dorsetshire_ which had, to the relief of everyone had made it to Tjilatjap safely and had gone into drydock for repairs shortly after she had arrived. However she was going to be out of the fight for a long time, mainly because of all the damage that she had suffered from the torpedo hit, the torpedo had carved a hole some twenty feet wide into the hull of the _County_ -class Heavy Cruiser.

It also became clear that the _Sealion_ had made it to wherever she had been going. Which at first had been thought was good news, however, then it was found out, that time until aid could arrive wasn't going to be for a while. Mainly because well North Korea was causing major trouble, again, however this time it looked like the situation could boil over and the 2nd Korean War would kick off. To try and defuse the situation the USN had two full Battleship Strike Groups, each group had one Nuclear Powered Battleship, two Guided Missile Cruisers, seven Guided Missile Destroyers, two Nuclear Powered Fast Attack Submarines, and a trio of combination ammunition, oiler, supply ship for logistic purposes. The USN wanted to send a full Battleship Strike Group to defuse the situation, because nothing said 'stop what you are doing unless you want to be _drowned_ in firepower' like an American Battleship Strike Group. The problem was, there was only two Battleship Strike Groups that was stationed in the Pacific that could be deployed at the moment but one was half an ocean away and the other was an ocean away.

The reason for that was simple, one American Nuclear Powered Battleship the USS _George Washington_ BBGN-78 was undergoing a Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) and wouldn't be able to come to their aid. Another one the USS _Abraham Lincoln_ BBGN-77 had just finished its RCOH and was in sea trials. There was two groups deployed in the Yellow Sea on a show of force mission to try and get North Korea to back down, these groups were centered on the USS _John C. Stennis_ BBGN-79 and USS _Ronald Reagan_ BBGN-81, the USS _Carl Vinson_ BBGN-75 had just returned to the United States after a nine month long Anti-Piracy Patrol around the Horn of Africa, so factoring in turn around time, the _Carl Vinson_ wouldn't be available to provide that massive force multiplier that a Full Battleship Strike Group could deliver not to mention the amount firepower she could bring to bear if push came to shove. The strike groups centered on the USS _George H. W. Bush_ BBGN-82, USS _Harry S. Truman_ BBGN-80, USS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ BBGN-74, and USS _Theodore Roosevelt_ BBGN-76 were either in the Atlantic or tied up at Naval Station Norfolk literally an ocean away. There were just _two_ Battleship Strike Groups that could be deployed _and_ reach the Malay Barrier in rather reasonable amount of time was the Battleship Strike Groups centered on the USS _Nimitz_ BBGN-73 which was currently at Naval Station Everett and the other was going to be decommissioned within two years and likely be scrapped via the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, although there were several petitions underway to save her from the breakers, whether or not it would succeed had yet to be seen, either way this Battleship and her Strike Group was currently at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and also was the closest Battleship Strike Group that wasn't already deployed on a mission, USS _Enterprise_ BBN-72.

However, there was one problem, due to distance, readiness level, plus other factors. Even for the _Enterprise_ 's Strike Group, Battleship Strike Group Twelve, said Strike Group had two AEGIS Cruisers, both were brand new _Las Vegas_ -class Nuclear Powered AEGIS Cruisers USS _Las Vegas_ CGN-42 and USS _Valley Forge_ CGN-47, Destroyer Squadron 2 which is composed of a mix of _Arleigh Burke_ -class AEGIS Guided Missile Destroyers and _Zumwalt_ -class Stealth AEGIS Guided Missile Destroyers with seven ships in all; the ships being USS _Winston Churchill_ DDG-81, USS _Porter_ DDG-78, and USS _Forrest Sherman_ DDG-98, the _Zumwalt_ -class AEGIS Guided Missile Destroyers USS _Zumwalt_ DDG-1000, USS _Lyndon B. Johnson_ DDG-1003, USS _Robert K. Huntington_ DDG-1008, and USS _Evans_ DDG-1010, the _Los Angeles_ -class Nuclear Powered Fast Attack Submarine USS _Cheyenne_ SSN-773, and three _Supply_ -class Fast Combat Support Ships the USS _Arctic_ T-AOE-8, USS _Boreas_ T-AOE-11, and USS _Allagash_ T-AOE-12.

For the same reasons it would also take a while for the USS _Nimitz_ BBGN-73 to arrive, however it would take her even longer than the _Enterprise_ to show up, because the _Nimitz_ and her Strike Group was all the way on the West Coast of the United States of America, at Naval Station Everett, a literal ocean away. The _Nimitz_ 's Strike Group was composed of one _Las Vegas_ -class Nuclear Powered AEGIS Cruiser the USS _Yorktown_ CGN-45 and one _Ticonderoga_ -class AEGIS Guided Missile Cruiser the USS _Lake Erie_ CG-70, Destroyer Squadron Nine composed of USS _Sampson_ DDG-102, USS _Fletcher_ DDG-1005, USS _Harvey C. Barnum Jr._ DDG-124, USS _Charles F. Adams_ DDG-122, USS _Jack H. Lucas_ DDG-125, the _Seawolf_ -class Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine USS _Seawolf_ SSN-21, and three _Supply_ -class Fast Combat Support Ships the USS _Supply_ T-AOE-6, USS _Rainier_ T-AOE-7, and USS _Niagara Falls_ T-AOE-9.

However, the Australians couldn't send aid, they were too busy picking up the pieces from the attack on Darwin that had killed at least two thousand people and left the city in ruins. With over three thousand missing. Not to mention, they were trying to figure out a way to salvage the smashed remains of the HMAS _Hobart_ and HMAS _Darwin_ a Guided Missile Destroyer and a Guided Missile Frigate, both gone. The Americans were getting the _Enterprise_ ready for deployment, but it was going to be two weeks maybe two and half before she could even _depart_ Pearl Harbor, then it would be at least a month of sailing just to reach the Malay Barrier and they would likely have to fight their way down to Surabaya Java. The British and Dutch were roaring mad as well, but they were three Oceans away even if they took the Suez Canal and aid from one of those nations would certainly have to fight their way to the Malay Barrier. The Japanese Blue Mermaids were on high alert and at maximum readiness just because they were afraid that North Korea would do something stupid and ignite a war in that region which wasn't needed.

However, a huge shitstorm brewed up, with so many fingers being pointed it was absolutely insane. The parents wanted their children out of the Malay Barrier Region, however the schools knew that getting them out of their alive was going to be fairly hard, particularly considering that they had a force come out of the night and bombard Darwin and reduce much of the city to rubble. Some people pointed out, that since the force that had attacked Darwin had managed to slip by a _Collins_ -class Attack Submarine that, they could if they wanted to, destroy those ships within sight of safety. That idea got shot down, people also fired away, quoting the content of the message, stating that the Blue Mermaid Forces of several nations had been effortlessly with barely any losses sustained to the attacking forces had been almost destroyed. So they argued that if these guys could destroy multiple professional forces with ease and the fact that they left the sea lanes unprotected, who was going to protect the people of the region?

The United States Navy quickly made a smart decision, stating that the _Enterprise_ 's Strike Group was going to sortie to the area, with the _Nimitz_ 's Strike Group to follow. However for even the _Enterprise_ 's Strike Group it would take nearly two months due to various factors, the _Nimitz'_ s Strike Group would be their in three months possibly three and half months again all depending on various factors. But, Australia as much as they wanted to send aid, they couldn't because they were too busy doing search and rescue operations in Darwin. Japan couldn't send aid because they wanted to have all of their ships available to respond to the situation that was happening in Korea if it went sour. Not to mention the United Kingdom nor the Netherlands could send aid that could get their in a reasonable time frame. Thus, it became clear that the one best hope that they had was the _Enterprise_ and her Strike Group. But until it could arrive, the Malay Barrier Defense Command was on it's own.

* * *

 _Surabaya Java_

 _Following Akeno_

Akeno a few days after that unpleasant shit storm died down, found herself walking from the base infirmary back to the _Tokoro_ , apart from some nasty as hell bruising from the shrapnel she had taken, but it had left her so sore that just moving around hurt like hell. Still, now that she was feeling better she was going back to the _Tokoro_.

When Akeno laid on eyes the _Yuubari_ -class Light Cruiser, she was amazed by how much she had changed. Her funnel had been replaced, it still had that distinctive look, a trunked and raked appearance. However, one thing that had most certainly changed, was fact that while the _Tokoro_ still had four turrets, they weren't a single turret with a twin superfiring turret. Instead they were now all twin turrets also the torpedo tubes looked different. The wound that had been near turret two had been fixed, the hull plates on the side that was hit were no longer warped out of true, she could no longer see twisted metal on the deck, the shrapnel puncture wounds in the pilot house had been repaired all the glass that had been broken had been replaced, the ship gleamed in a fresh coat of paint, even the emblem that had been on the _Tokoro_ 's funnel had been repainted on.

Soon, Akeno walked up the gangplank and quickly made her way to the bridge. When she got there she found that Mei was fawning over a torpedo director, however the design was familiar, she realized that it was torpedo fire control computer, the same type they had installed on board the _Harekaze_ before they had tangled with the _Musashi_ for the second time. It made it easier to get the correct torpedo solution, so you could put torpedoes accurately on target.

"Hey Mei-chan!" Akeno said.

Mei spun around and spotted Akeno. "Hi Captain. It's good to see that you are back on your feet again." She said.

"I agree with you their, even if I did have to get a new ballistic vest. However, I have noticed that they have done some major changes to the armament of the _Tokoro_. What have they done there?" Akeno asked curiously.

"Well Captain, they removed the 61cm torpedo tubes and replaced them 53.3cm torpedo tubes, two triple launchers loaded with Mark 15 Mod 3 Torpedoes. As for the main battery they have removed all of the 14cm guns and with some reworking, they managed to slap four 6in/53 Caliber Mark 16 Twin Mounts onboard. Giving us eight 6in/53 caliber Naval Guns, they have a slightly slower rate of fire when compared to the 14cm guns but they have a slightly longer range and fire a heavier round. They have also repaired the radio, radar, and sonar. Our mine launcher has been replaced with a pair of Mark IX depth charge racks and we have been equipped with Mark VI Depth Charges we have ten Mark VI Depth Charges in each rack for a grand total of twenty depth charges. If anything, she's ready for anything that they can throw at us." Mei said with a smile.

Akeno whistled appreciatively, the _Tokoro_ was now a pretty impressive threat on the battlefield. If anything, they knew with confidence that the _Tokoro_ could now take on anything short of a Heavy Cruiser with her guns. The torpedoes she had were now short ranged affairs but they were fairly quick and packed a lethal punch, 823 pounds of HBX. Plus, whereas before when engaging enemy submarines all they had was just ASW rounds for the main guns, they now had Depth Charges.

Suddenly, Kirkland trudged up into the bridge. She had a surprised look in her eyes.

"Kirk-chan what's wrong?" Mei asked.

"A Singaporean Blue Mermaid Zeppelin found a large invasion force coming down from the north, it's currently angling for the Sulu Sea judging by it's route but we won't know for a few more days. It has a fairly impressive screen composed of five _Krivak III_ -class Frigates, a pair _Kotlin_ -class Destroyers, and the flagship appears to be a single _Slava_ -class Guided Missile Cruiser. They are escorting sixteen Dock Landing Ships of unknown type, probably a home built design, but just by judging by the size of the aft ramp, plus the size of the ship, they are similar to the _Whidbey Island_ -class Dock Landing Ship, but the superstructure is completely different, as is the armament, the CIWS mounts are not Phalanx CIWS mounts if anything the mounts are closer in appearance to Russian AK-630 30mm CIWS mounts and Komar Igla Turrets expect SA-24 Grinchs, so pretty much defenseless against surface ships. However, the one thing that everyone is concerned about is how many landing craft these dock landing ships can carry. I wouldn't be surprised if it's four _Tsaplya_ -class LCACs for each Dock Landing Ship, although if they want to go for an insane amount of equipment that they can deploy, they would be able to carry five maybe six _Lebed_ -class LCACs if they want to. Which is very bad news for the defenders of any beach. That means they can put a large number of troops and IFVs or MBTs on a beach in a hurry." Kirkland said gruffly.

"That's very bad. So Kirk-chan were do you think they would go?" Mei asked.

"If I were a betting girl. I would say that this invasion force, wherever the hell it came from, it will likely swing south, going through the South China Sea, before heading southeast and going through the Sulu Sea and into the Celebes Sea, and then swinging south entering the Makassar Strait, once they are in the Makassar Strait, they really have two options for targets, they could go for Balikpapan or they could go for the island of Java. However my money is Balikpapan that would be a logical choice." Kirkland replied.

"So are we going to sortie to intercept this Invasion force?" Akeno asked.

"Probably not, there are still quite a few things that need to be finished, they still need to stock the magazine for the main battery with ammunition, the torpedoes still need to be loaded as well, we need a new whaleboat and a new Skipper high speed launch as they got pretty badly mangled by shrapnel, but from the looks of it, we are likely going to get a Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat or a Rigid Buoyant Boat instead, we are also going to be getting a couple of new liferafts to replace the ones that got torn up by the action we had in the Sunda Strait, and lastly the fuel bunkers need to be topped off. However, now that the repairs and modifications are done, we will likely get the new whaleboat and high speed launch and the magazines and torpedoes will be loaded as well, the same goes for the fuel bunkers. We will be ready for action probably by either the end of the day today or by tomorrow." Kirkland said.

"That's good to hear, anything else I should know?" Akeno asked.

Kirkland rubbed her chin lost in thought. "Yes there is actually. Thanks to a United States Navy Communications Satellite which are in a much higher orbit than civilian communication satellites, so it's a lot harder to hit with an ASAT, not to mention they knew exactly what satellites to hit to knock communications out in this area, but anyway we have reestablished communications with the outside world, thanks to that satellite. We have received word from the Japanese Government, and that although the paperwork is still being sorted out, the crew of the _Tokoro_ for helping combat the RATs infection as well as finding a cure, every member of the _Tokoro_ will receive the Yellow Ribbon Medal of Honor, while the crew members who took part in the rescue of that Mall Ship will receive the Red Ribbon Medal of Honor, also due to her finding the cure for the RATs infection Kaburagi Minami will receive the Blue Ribbon Medal of Honor in addition to the Yellow Ribbon she will receive. However, from the looks of it Skipper, due to what you did, going out while we were under fire, to save members of the crew from the _Vampire_ you are probably going to get a Red Ribbon Medal of Honor as well." Kirkland said briskly.

For a moment, both Akeno and Mei were speechless. The Medals of Honor were a fairly prestigious award that Japanese Citizens could receive. "Really? That's amazing!" Mei suddenly exclaimed as she put it all together and Akeno nodded as she agreed with Mei completely.

"Yeah, if anything, the crew of the _Tokoro_ will all make damn fine Blue Mermaids. I c-" Kirkland began to say only to get cut off by a series of large explosions.

"What the fuck was that? Did some idiot cook-off a few 4in rounds again?!" Kirkland snapped sharply.

"I don't know what could have produced a series of detonations like that. I mean, last time I heard a detonation like that was during our encounter with the _I-201_ when we dropped a depth charge on it. It's possible what we just heard was series of depth charges exploding." Mei said.

"What the hell would give someone a reason to setoff some depth charges?" Kirkland snapped.

"I don't know, honest!" Mei said, she was just as confused as everyone else was.

A few moments later another set of six heavy detonations tore through the air.

"I think the destroyer we had doing picket duty detected something or something took a shot at it or something and is now being hammered by that DD." Akeno said.

"Now that you mention it, I think that is the case, we have two _Wickes_ -class Destroyers running picket duty at the mouth of the Madura Strait, if I am right. It's the USS _Mckee_ DD-87 and the USS _Cole_ DD-155. However, the fact that they managed to detect an enemy submarine is incredible to begin with, because they are a pretty quiet submarine, they are _Foxtrot_ -class Submarines after all. However, I heard that the _Sealion_ sank one using Mark 29 Torpedoes, that had to be all skill and no luck if you get my drift." Kirkland said.

* * *

 _Outside the mouth to the Madura Strait_

 _Onboard USS_ McKee _DD-87_

 _Lieutenant Commander Willow Henderson Lee commanding_

 _Thirty minutes earlier_

The USS _Mckee_ DD-87 was one of the four _Wickes_ -class Destroyers assigned to the Asiatic Flotilla. With the others being the USS _Cole_ DD-155, USS _Walker_ DD-163, USS _Mahan_ DD-102, and USS _Ingraham_ DD-111.

At the moment the USS _McKee_ and the USS _Cole_ were both patrolling the entrance to the Madura Strait, to prevent submarines from entering the Madura Strait and being able to raise hell in Surabaya. The water was rather shallow, so even something like a _Foxtrot_ -class wouldn't have that much room to go deeper if needed. Bottomline, they were in a rather nice position to say whose submarines could enter the Madura Strait and whose submarines couldn't enter the Madura Strait. So they were doing methodical circles five nautical miles outside the entrance to the Madura Strait at a leisurely ten knots.

The _Wickes_ -class was somewhat of a joke, most of them having been scrapped, a few were still kicking around, but not many. The same was true for the _Clemson_ -class although they weren't as mediocre as the _Wickes_ -class, they were still mediocre. A _Wickes_ -class had a pitiful 'Main Battery' of just four 4in/50 Caliber Mark 9 Naval Guns on Mark 12 Mounts, of which only three could bear on a single target. They were all but helpless from the air, with only one 3in/23 Caliber Dual Purpose Gun, but it's range was so craptastic it was often used to fire only illumination rounds her only other defense was a M2 Browning and a pair of M1919s, they were okay in terms of ASW work, they had sonar, one or two depth charge tracks and one Y-Gun. The real teeth that both the _Wickes_ -class and the _Clemson_ -class packed were their torpedoes, four triple launchers two on each side, coupled with their respectable top speed of 37 knots meant they could get in, launch their torpedoes, and get out with usually minimal damage.

However, Willow Henderson Lee, commander of the _Mckee_ didn't care about all of that at all. For one reason, though the _McKee_ maybe old, she was sleek, fast, lethal, and most importantly the _Mckee_ was _her's_. She adored the _McKee_ and everything about her. Who cared if the _Clemson_ -class Destroyers and the destroyer classes that came after the _Clemson_ -class were better in every conceivable way. You always looked past the drawbacks of your first command. She had been in command of the _McKee_ for nearly two school years now. The _McKee_ was part of the unit, Destroyer Squadron 29 which was composed of the Destroyer Divisions 57, 58, and 59. Destroyer Divisions 59 had five destroyers each four _Clemson_ -class Destroyers and one _Wickes_ -class Destroyer, however Destroyer Division 57 and 58 had six destroyers, four _Clemson_ -class Destroyers and two _Wickes_ -class Destroyers. The flagship of DesRon 29 was the USS _Paul Jones_ DD-230. While DesDiv 57 was composed of the USS _Alden_ DD-211, USS _John D. Edwards_ DD-216, USS _Edsall_ DD-219, USS _Mahan_ DD-102, USS _Walker_ DD-163, and USS _Whippie_ DD-217 the _Whippie_ was also the flagship of DesDiv 57; DesDiv 58 was composed of the USS _Barker_ DD-213, USS _Parrott_ DD-218, USS _Bulmer_ DD-222, USS _Cole_ DD-155, USS _McKee_ DD-78, and USS _Stewart_ DD-224, the _Stewart_ was also the flagship of DesDiv 58; finally the last DesDiv that was in DesRon 29 was DesDiv 59 and it was the smallest of the Destroyer Divisions in DesRon 29 and it was composed of the USS _Pope_ DD-225, USS _Peary_ DD-226 -the _Peary_ was the flagship of DesDiv 59-, USS _Pillsbury_ DD-227, and USS _John D. Ford_ DD-228.

Willow was brought out of her thoughts by the sharp whistle of the voice tube followed by the voice of the young man named Jacob Wagner who was manning the sonar set. " _Bridge, Sonar."_ He said in a monotone voice.

"Bridge, Jessica here." Jessica Moore, a young lass from Waco Texas, said. Jessica held the rank of Petty Officer and was currently the bridge talker. She had sharp blue eyes and stunning blonde hair done up in a bun. She was wearing Khaki Working Uniform.

" _PO, I've got a sound contact here, possible submarine, bearing 025. Doesn't sound like any submarine I have ever heard before. Wait! Transient! Transient! He's opened tubes! Contact probable_ Foxtrot _-class Attack Submarine!"_ Jacob barked sharply.

"General Quarters! Ahead flank! Signal the _Cole_! Tell them we got a _Foxtrot_!" Willow bellowed, a few moments later the young man at the lee helm slammed the engine order telegraph from ahead one third which was roughly 10 knots all the way to flank. The bells rang, moments later the, blowers roared, the stern 'squatted' down and the _McKee_ rocketed to flank speed, her speed rapidly increasing. A second later a rhythmic _GONG! GONG! GONG!_ Sounded through the air as the _McKee_ 's General Quarters alarm began to sound. The sound of people running and slamming hatches shut, hats being traded for helmets and ballistic vests being donned.

"Engine room manned and ready, main battery manned and ready, steering room manned and ready; all stations are manned and ready for action Captain!" Jessica barked sharply.

"Understood!" Willow growled before going to speaking tube for the radio room.

"Nicholas! Contact the Indonesian Blue Mermaids! Tell them we need a Airship equipped for ASW action out here!" Willow ordered sharply.

" _Yes ma'am!"_ Signals Lieutenant Nicholas Chambers replied briskly.

"Sonar! Yankee Search the son of a bitch! No submarine tries to fire on my destroyer and gets away with it!" Willow snarled.

Yankee Search meant that the _McKee_ 's relatively decent sonar set would blast the water with pulses of sound and would then would be able to figure out what was out there when the pulses returned. However when traveling at 37 something knots, it would be a miracle if they detected anything with the sonar lashing the water mercilessly with sound.

However, they got lucky, the acoustic conditions of water today were rather good. The only reason the _Foxtrot_ -class had succeeded in sneaking up on them was because well the _Foxtrot_ -class was so damn quiet.

" _Bridge, sonar!"_ Jacob said gruffly.

"Bridge here, go sonar!" Jessica barked sharply.

" _I got him! We spooked him bad! Plus I think when we went to flank we sent his solution out the window. He is on bearing 045, it's faint but it's their."_ Jacob said.

"Roger sonar! Helmsman! Course correction! Bring us about, to bearing 045 relative! Prepare to roll depth charges!" Willow barked.

"Roger! Course correction! Bearing 045!" The helmsman said as he rapidly spun the wheel, and the _McKee_ quickly turned onto her new course. Agility wasn't really a feature that when they were new that Four-Stackers had. However, the _McKee_ had an extra three feet added to her rudder and now she handled like a damn rum runner.

"Prepare to roll depth charges! Y-Guns! Get ready!" Jessica bellowed into the voice tube.

" _Bridge! In twenty seconds we will be on him! He's hugging the bottom!"_ Jacob barked.

Willow counted silently in her head. "Now! Roll depth charges! Y-Guns fire!" She bellowed. The Y-guns thundered lobbing depth charges into the air, and aft at the depth charge tracks, each track unloaded two depth charges. Each depth charge that was dropped from the Mark IX depth charge racks was a Mark IX Depth Charge while the twin Y-Gun mount fired two Mark 6 Depth Charges.

The Depth Charges sank to their pre-set depth and detonated, the water spalled and was blasted upward in several locations with a thunderous series of detonations. A few moments later the _Cole_ passed over the spot and dropped her own depth charges. In a similar pattern.

The destroyers went at it, using sonar to try and find the bastard, but twice they dropped on noise makers, but they had succeeded in completely _scaring the shit_ out of the crew of the _Foxtrot_ they were hunting. Mainly because they had expected ASW torpedoes to be used against them and not an honest to god, strait up _depth charging_ by a pair of destroyers working in concert with each other. Then as if to complicate matters for the enemy submarine, twenty minutes into the hunt, an Airship returning from a patrol arrived on the scene, and promptly began to do the 'mow the lawn' pattern for MAD search.

Five minutes after the Airship showed up, they received the radio message they were all waiting for. " _Madman! Madman! Madman! Smoke away!"_ The airship radioed as a marker flare arched away from the helicopter and landed in the water, soon a large cloud of fluorescent green smoke was arching upward.

Now securely knowing were their prey was. Both destroyers shot toward the smoke marker like lions on the hunt. The _Foxtrot_ realizing it had been found, likely by a MAD pass, went to flank and tried to run. As it was the only sensible thing to do at this moment. Sadly however, it was not to be, the _Foxtrot_ -class could only flank at sixteen knots but the _Wickes_ -class destroyer flanked at 37 knots. End result, they easily caught up to the _Foxtrot_ and carpet bombed it with depth charges.

" _Bridge, sonar!"_ Jacob said.

"Bridge, go sonar." Jessica said.

" _We clobbered him good, I got hull-popping noises, wait, Master One is now blowing tanks! He's coming up! Bearing 165!"_ Jacob said.

"Roger! Helm! Bring us about! Make your course 085, slow to ahead standard!" Willow ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" The helmsman said and spun the wheel.

The _McKee_ had just finished coming around, when the distinctive shape of a _Foxtrot_ -class broached the surface. It had been severely wounded, the sail was completely mangled, several holes had been torn into the hull, and it never completely surfaced. The crew began abandoning ship, however only a few got off before the submarine began to sink, descending into depths, a few more appeared on the surface after that. But their was only eight or nine survivors in the water.

Willow glanced at the chronometer, the entire hunt had taken nearly fifty-two minutes to complete. That was Anti-Submarine Warfare for you, if she ever decided to write a report on how to do ASW. She would likely titled it: Again! Again! AGAIN! Simply because well it required patience and often repetition, sometimes a lot of both.

"Ma'am, signal from the _Cole_. They will pick up the survivors, from that _Foxtrot_ we can go and return to our station." The bridge wing lookout said.

"Alright! Send this, 'Acknowledged _Cole_ , still I have to ask, how the hell are we going to be award this kill? We both hit him with depth charges.' Besides, we need to go back to the mouth of the Madura Strait." Willow said.

"Yes ma'am!" The bridge wing lookout said before beginning to work the signal light.

* * *

After this little surprise with the _Foxtrot_ , the choice was made to mine the area around the Madura Strait, they used mostly CAPTOR and Bottom-Moored rising mines which both used torpedoes, they programed in the noise signature of the _Foxtrot_ -class as well as the _Tango_ -class because the _Tango_ -class was basically an improved _Foxtrot_ -class so it would stand to reason that they would have both.

Still, this incident proved that the enemy was really beginning to step up its progress in its plan. Then it got confirmed where that Invasion Fleet was heading, they were headed for the Makassar Strait. Deciding that they should strike at the enemy, Destroyer Division 57 was ordered to sortie and attack the enemy fleet at night.

The stage was set for the Naval Battle of Balikpapan.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, we are all set and done here. This chapter has now been completed. One thing of note, after the chapter that depicts really the "Big Hurrah" that the Malay Barrier Defense Command will have, we will have an aftermath chapter of that, then it's off to the Battle of the Celebes Sea, then we will have an aftermath chapter and another chapter were basically it's a composition of Log Entries by various Captains, then it's a chapter depicting the Battle of Badung Strait, we get an aftermath chapter of that, then a chapter that depicts the preparation and then the 1st Battle of the Java Sea, which is going to be a disaster let me tell you for the Malay Barrier Defense Command, right after that chapter, we will cover the 2nd Battle of the Sunda Strait, and then finally a chapter with a bit of an aftermath after 1st Java Sea and then it's right into the 2nd Battle of the Java Sea which will again be a disaster, and then we will have an aftermath of 2nd Battle of Java Sea, followed by an Epilogue chapter.**

 **The reason being in the Malay Barrier Campaign is that there wasn't a bunch of time between each battle. Particularly after 1st Java Sea, they happened literally hours after each other.**

 **Anyway, take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Alright, here we go! Another exciting of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic, in this chapter we see the 2nd and last major victory that the Malay Barrier Defense Command will achieve against the enemy. The Naval Battle of Balikpapan, wherein several Destroyers will kick the crap out of an enemy invasion force, that is going to launch an invasion of the island of Borneo.**

 **With that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and set sail into this chapter!**

* * *

 _Outside the Madura Strait_

 _Operation: SLAY THE DRAGON_

 _Destroyer Division 57, heading out_

Six, low and sleek destroyers left the Strait of Madura behind, dashing up toward the Makassar Strait; they were to interdict the invasion force that had been confirmed with recon flights to be going south, it was most certainly heading for Borneo. To be specific the city of Balikpapan, Borneo. The fact that were was quite a few transports, and that it would take too long for the entire force to sortie. Besides, their were some pretty nasty ships in the enemy screen, including a _Slava_ -class Cruiser. So it was decided that small and lightweight was the way to go, because if that _Slava_ -class went loud with its missiles. Things could get very interesting pretty damn fast. Although everyone would have to promptly turn into the missiles and then pray to God, that the missile misses, which while it would be unlikely, it _could_ happen.

Onboard what one of the oldest ships in the entire division, USS _Walker_ , Destroyer Rate number 163 was a beehive of activity. She like her remaining sisters had barely any room for automation onboard. As such everything was done the old fashion way. One particular member of her crew, Brad 'Spanky' McFarlane however noted that something was different in _Walker_ , it had started out subtly mainly after that battle were just three Destroyers had to quote Admiral Riggs "The best damn active defense against a hostile fleet this Navy has _ever_ seen."

Still he had to admit, the battle that they were going to be doing, they way it had been laid out by Captain Matthew Curtiss of the USS _Whippie_ really knew what he was doing.

They were going to sneak in under the cover of darkness, get among the landing ship docks, and then illuminate them to with search lights and starburst illumination rounds, then while they are taken by surprise commence combat with gunfire and torpedoes. While the six destroyers between them didn't have enough ammunition and torpedoes onboard to sink the entire invasion force. They _did_ have enough onboard to make sure that they could thoroughly _decimate_ that enemy invasion force though.

Spanky was brought out of his musings by one of the 'mice' onboard the _Walker_ speaking up. "Spanky, why on Earth do you keep on saying that the Old Girl has changed? It certainly doesn't _feel_ like she has! Plus she isn't even damaged and the damage we did suffer during that action in Manila Bay was entirely superficial stuff and has been repaired for quite awhile already." Isak Ruben said.

"Isak, trust me. _She_ has _changed_. It started when we first went into combat against the Kraken Fleet in Manila. Before that, she felt cheerful and eager, always ready and willing to prove to everyone else that while she maybe one of the oldest ships in the Asiatic Floatilla she could get the job done. Then when we engaged the Kraken Fleet for the first time, throughout most of that battle, she certainly felt panicked and scared. Now she has been filled with a grim resolve but is still cheerful and I guess a hint of anger as well, before she became our ship, she has been kicking around in the Asiatic Flotilla for twelve years and well, likely considered Cavite and Manila her home, the fact that we have been forced to leave it. Well you get the picture." Spanky said.

Isak just gave him a confused look. "How the hell can you figure _that_ out, Mr. McFarlane? Because I haven't noticed anything different." He said.

"Isak, you will understand once you become the Chief Engineer on a ship. You gain a greater understanding for a ship and how _she_ feels about a situation." Spanky said.

"Whatever you say Mr. McFarlane. I wonder though, can we really pull this off. I mean, we have just six ancient, outdated, and under-gunned destroyers. I mean, considering that we are going to be facing basically _modern_ warships. What hope do we have for winning this battle?" Isak said.

Spanky quirked an eyebrow. "Well Mr. Ruben, while we are facing modern warships, we hold _several_ key advantages. The first one being well we are small in size, which means we are going to be rather tough to hit, our second advantage is that well our ships can take a punch, and lastly the enemy ships _can't_ take a punch. I mean, hell that _Slava_ -class Cruiser, it's ASMs are exposed in launchers that while they enclose the missile, they aren't buried in the hull, which means one round in just right spot and well no more enemy cruiser." Spanky said.

"Whatever you say Mr. McFarlane." Isak said.

On the bridge of the _Walker_ , several men were manning their various stations. Edward Flowers had the helm, Fred Reynolds was the bridge talker, Bosun's Mate Fitzhugh Grey, Jim Ellis the Executive Officer for the _Walker_ , and lastly the Captain of the _Walker_ Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy.

"Skipper, I have to ask. What do you think of the plan that we have in place to engage the enemy? Do you think it will work?" Grey asked.

"To be honest Boats, I have no idea. This is the first time that we have done an offensive like this, which means, I have no idea how we can make sure we can win." Reddy said with a sigh.

"Exactly, still I wish that Operation: FIRST STRIKE hadn't been so damn costly. I mean HMS _Repulse_ was lost with all hands, plus HMAS _Vampire_ was lost with near as dammit all hands, not to mention the HMAS _Stuart_ took so many with her to the bottom, then of course there is the fact that HMS _County_ took a fair number with her to the bottom as well, plus I am fairly certain that the HMS _Dragon_ took most of her Engineering Division with her to the bottom. Wish we had _Tokoro_ or _Marblehead_ with us. We certainly could use the extra firepower that either ship could bring into the fight." Jim said grimly.

"True XO, but you have to remember, we are going to be fighting ships that by all rights would be able to kick our ass easily. However modern ships _don't_ like being shot at all. I mean, even our AP rounds would tear them up pretty good. Plus that _Slava_ -class has a pair of huge weak points one that I bet Mr. Silva could hit from like 7 miles away in local control. You hit those missiles and well, no more _Slava_ as it is then scattered all over the ocean thanks to its missiles blowing up. The other one is simply get behind it, the only thing that could shoot at us would be a CIWS mount." Grey growled.

Everyone nodded at that. The enemy flagship, while it was powerful, it had a glaring weakness, one that even something like a submarine on the surface, plinking away with its deck gun could exploit said weakness. Mainly the fact that the big ass Anti-Ship Missiles that the _Slava_ -class used were rather exposed and they were on the bow. Not to mention all of weapons were pointed forward there wasn't much that could attack something approaching aft on one of those suckers. Which meant even something as weak as a _Wickes_ -class or a _Clemson_ -class popping up behind or alongside to one of that _Slava_ -class then it would be screwed.

On board the USS _Mahan_ DD-102 which was _one_ of the oldest Destroyers in the entirety of DesRon 29 with only USS _McKee_ being older than her. Perry Bristler the Chief Engineer on the _Mahan_ cycled through the airlock and entered the forward Boiler room on the _Mahan_. It was a good day, everything was operating smoothly on the old Destroyer. He loved caring for his boilers, even though he would have to learn how to handle turbines or nuclear reactors when he entered the Navy for real. However, he didn't care however, he loved the four Yarrow Boilers that formed _Mahan_ 's blazing heart. However, he could tell that _she_ was simply a bundle of nervous energy, then again who wouldn't be? It was going to be her first _planned_ battle against a force that was superior in every possible way. He sighed and patted a bulkhead lovingly and he swore he felt said bulkhead twitch under his hand.

"It's alright _Mahan_ , you'll survive this action and any other actions that we take part in." Bristler said quietly. As if in response to himself muttering some positives to _Mahan_ he thought that the Bulkhead felt a little warmer underneath his hand, but it was likely his imagination, it _was_ roughly 120 degrees in the forward boiler room. Still, he really cared about the old girl.

* * *

 _Aboard the Kraken Fleet Cruiser_ Relentless King

 _OPERATION:_ STORMY WRAITH

 _Following Admiral Izurio Makawa_

Admiral Izurio Makawa, the commanding officer of Operation: STORMY WRAITH was excited. No enemy ships had appeared to challenge his force, looks intelligence was correct and the Blue Mermaids of the Malay Barrier had been effortlessly smashed by the heavy warships of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Heavy Assault Fleets and now it was time for the forces of the 4th, 6th, and 7th Guard Fleets while they didn't have many modern ships in terms of ships being equipped with Missiles, they _did_ have quite a few ships equipped with modern radar directed gun fire control systems the same went for their tactics they were well drilled in the Art of War.

However, he had noted with some concern that he had received some reports from Ceylon, that a force of _High School Fleet_ Ships came out of the night and then blew the hell out of a major ship building complex, while a 2nd Force complete with Special Forces attacked a POW camp and liberated all of the POWs at said camp. There were also reports that stated that the blockading squadron that was responsible for locking down the Sunda Strait had also been completely destroyed by enemy again a force of _High School Fleet_ Ships with the flagship actually being _rammed_ by an enemy Battlecruiser, something had caused a sympathetic detonation of one of the two ships magazines resulted in the destruction of both ships, with the ship that had actually rammed the flagship being lost with all hands while the majority of the crew of the _Fuji_ -class being killed as well.

However reports also stated that their was one Singaporean Blue Mermaid Ship, the Dock Landing Ship _Endurance_. While she was targeted during the action in the Sunda Strait she wasn't hit once. However during the action off the coast of Ceylon one enemy Destroyer and one Heavy Cruiser were sunk with a Battlecruiser and a Heavy Cruiser were also heavily damaged, but it stood to reason that every single enemy ship had to be hit several times. While during the battle in the Sunda Strait one enemy destroyer was confirmed sunk as was an enemy light cruiser.

Still, this mission was incredibly important and would really move along their plans to bring the United Imperial Republics into existence. For if they could take Borneo and Sulawesi also known as Celebes then they would effectively cut the Malay Barrier Operating Area in two and then it would become easy to take the Malay Barrier Area as whoever thought they could stand up to them would be separated from each other and thus unable to support each other which means it would become extraordinarily easy to conquer, combined with the fact that the Philippines were on the verge of falling, plus with a dozen other invasions proceeding across the area, everything was going as planned.

Still, he was wondering why the hell would _High School Fleet_ Ships attack them? The way they had done so, it had to be planned, no way it had been a spontaneous thing. Considering that the _Endurance_ was apart of the force that had attacked. Which meant he had to be on his toes and anticipate to engage the enemy, there was no ifs, ands, or buts about that fact. Whoever was responsible for the strike on Ceylon would likely send a force to engage them.

"Admiral! One of our _Krivaks_ reports that they have detected an enemy submarine and they are requesting permission to engage." The Bridge Talker on the _Relentless King_ said.

"Tell them permission granted. Sink the bastard before he can torpedo one of our transports." Admiral Makawa said.

"Yes sir!" The bridge talker replied before telling the radio room what to tell the _Krivak_ -class that had detected the enemy submarine. They were going to be in position soon, probably by eight or nine PM local time.

Suddenly and without warning a pair of muffled explosions resounded through the air and then the Talk Between Ships seemed to go absolutely crazy.

" _This is the_ Whitehead _! We've been hit by two torpedoes! Unable to stop the flooding! We are abandoning ship!"_

" _The_ Whitehead _has been hit! Fuck! We have an enemy submarine out here!"_

" _This is the_ Brotherhood _! Moving in to pick up survivors from the_ Whitehead _!"_

" _This is_ Andromeda _moving to prosecute the enemy submarine!"_

 _Goddamnit! I didn't expect an enemy submarine to even be in a position to intercept us._ Admiral Makawa thought angrily as the Dock Landing Ship _Whitehead_ began to roll over, due to her load of LCACs beginning to shift, as water poured into the gaping wounds caused by the two torpedoes.

However the frigate _Andromeda_ was now moving toward where the enemy submarine had attacked. "Admiral, report from the _Andromeda_ , they have identified the enemy ship, it is a High School Fleet Submarine, HNLMS _K XVIII_ , they are requesting permission to persecute." The Bridge Talker said, relaying what he had heard from the radio room.

"Permission Granted, tell them to sink that motherfucker, he sank one of my ships, we therefore get to sink him." Admiral Makawa said gruffly, no remorse in his tone.

"Yes sir." The bridge talker said.

* * *

 _Onboard Royal Dutch HS Fleet Submarine_ K XVIII

 _Lieutenant Commander Van Well Goerneveld Commanding_

"Captain! Enemy Frigate is bearing down on us! He likely has us!" The sonar operator barked sharply, panic in his voice.

"Hard to port! Deploy decoys, rig ship for depth charge!" Goerneveld ordered crisply, not even a waiver in his voice. _K XVIII_ responded quickly as the planesman quickly turned their wheels to change the position of the dive planes and the two muffled _choom_ s of decoys being discharged and the sound of watertight doors being shut resounded through the ship.

Suddenly the sonar operator screamed something "HOLY FUCK! ASW ROCKETS INBOUND!" as he heard the distinctive scream of ASW Rockets launching.

In an instant the 1MC was engaged and Goerneveld yelled "All hands brace for impact!"

Then _boom_ , _boom_ , _boom_ , _boom_ four rockets tore into the water and detonated, rocking the submarine but not doing any damage. Then there was another series of four explosions, they had fired on the decoys. However, they likely weren't going to get lucky again.

"Are the decoys still there?" Goerneveld asked as the _K XVIII_ maneuvered frantically.

"They are! But considering that they likely heard no breaking up noises when they clobbered those, they know for a fact where we are now!" The sonar operator reported still sounding panicked.

What could he do? Their was a nasty as hell _Krivak_ -III Frigate hunting them, while it wasn't as nasty as other versions of _Krivak_ class Frigate. It was still nasty as hell, with RBU-6000 ASW Rocket System and it's ASW torpedoes.

"Shit! More ASW Rockets incoming!" The sonar operator screamed as he heard the distinctive roar of more RGB-60 ASW Rockets launching.

"Hang on!" Goerneveld yelled and then grabbed on to the search periscope and held on for dear life. Moments later _BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM_ four rockets each with a 25 kilogram warhead detonated in close proximity to _K XVIII_ everyone who wasn't strapped into a chair was hurled to the deck.

Goerneveld was one of the first back on his feet in the CIC. The space had been turned into a mess, conduits and piping was dangling from the ceiling, shattered glass from the various gauges was all over the place. His submarine had just been hit by ashcans, badly, judging by the way the deck was now groaning under his feet.

" _Captain! We have a hull breach! The forward berthing space is flooding!"_ Someone shouted over the intercom.

"Is the flooding under control? How bad is it?" Goerneveld asked quickly, mainly because flooding on a submarine was _very bad_.

" _Seems so! However we are shoring up the bulkheads on our end anyway! I would recommend you do the same! We take another depth charging like that then we are fucked! I doubt the bulkhead for the forward torpedo room can handle another depth charging like that! What the hell hit us?"_ The same voice said.

"We had four RGB-60 Rockets hit us, if they got that close on the second salvo after they ruled out the decoys, well they are going to hit us again!" Goerneveld barked sharply.

" _Wilco!"_ The same voice said.

As if to punctuate the point, eight furious explosions rocked the Dutch High School Fleet Submarine violently, one rocket detonated right above the sail and thoroughly shredded it and caused a violent spray of water to stream into the command center with the force of a firehose.

"FUCK! Blow ballast! All hands, make preparations to abandon ship! I hate to say it but _K XVIII_ has had it! She has done us proud, but sadly, she can't take anymore punishment." Goerneveld said quickly, because he could tell that the _K XVIII_ had just been mortally wounded, with no way in hell she would be able to survive another ASW Rocketing like that.

The sound of the blow ballast alarm wailed, and the submarine lurched upward.

* * *

 _Onboard the Kraken Fleet Frigate_ Andromeda

 _Captain Jacob Flores commanding_

" _Captain Flores, target is coming up, wait. Target is now blowing tanks, I think we got him!"_ The intercom that connected the bridge to CIC squawked.

"Very well, traverse mount I to lock-on target. Give the enemy time to abandon ship and then blow that thing out of the water." Flores said as the water churned and sure enough an _extremely_ battered _K XIV_ class submarine broached the surface. The thing was a mess, the sail had been thoroughly shredded, it was clear that water had been entering the ship in multiple locations. Once the ship finished surfacing, she began to settle, it was clear as day that she had it.

The crew began to abandon ship, putting what liferafts that they had in the water, and carefully putting the wounded in them once that task was done, the rest of the crew then leaped into the water. There weren't all that many Jacob noted grimly, only about forty from the looks of it, but then again considering that the _K XIV_ class was only 214 feet long and displaced just 1045 tons submerged the crew was probably only _about_ forty.

" _Captain? Permission to open fire with the main battery?"_ Weps asked.

"Negative Weps. Allow the survivors a chance to get some distance between them and the submarine. Only commence firing on my command." Flores growled.

" _Roger"_ Weps said.

As Flores watched the crew either swim or row away from the submarine. It was clear that the thing was sinking. The RGB-60 Rockets had ripped that submarine a new one, their powerful warheads detonating in close proximity to the hull had fatally wounded it and given how _shredded_ the sail was, it likely had a rocket detonate right above it.

After two minutes, he decided that their was enough distance between the survivors and the slowly sinking submarine. "Weps, you may commence firing, on the submarine _only_." Flores said.

" _Yessir! Going loud with Mount I!"_ Weps said sharply and a few moments later, the 100mm gun opened fire, the first four rounds missed, but the next six, impacted the mangled submarine and tore it open pretty effectively. With smoke clearly visible, the submarine rolled over, and began to sink, which didn't take long for the battered submarine to surrender itself to the sea.

"Have the cargo nets rigged out. Ahead at eight knots. Bring us in as close as you dare helmsman, inform the marines we have onboard to prepare to take charge of prisoners. For god's sake please tell them to be firm but gentle; they are just kids for fucks sake. I want to know why they are out here and why did they attack our task force and more importantly is their anything else we should expect more unexpected surprises!" Flores said.

"Yes sir!" The bridge talker said before relaying the orders.

Flores sighed, why did Admiral Makawa order him to engage that enemy submarine. He understood the reason, naturally. However, he hated doing it regardless.

* * *

 _Onboard USS_ Whippie _DD-217_

 _Captain Matthew Curtiss Commanding_

"Skipper! Radio message from Headmaster Doorman!" Radioman Abby Felix said as she sprinted onto the bridge.

"What is it?" Matthews barked.

"According to the message the submarine _K XVIII_ engaged the enemy and reported sinking one transport, but they then got clobbered by one of the escorts, the last transmission we got from them said that they were abandoning ship, lethal damage sustained. I think they're gone." Felix said.

"Goddamn when will be in range to engage the enemy?" Matthew asked.

"Sir at our current rate, we will be there at roughly 1730 hours. However, by my estimates, we will catch them right in the middle of operations. So who knows how much will be ashore by the time we arrive. Either way, if we play our cards right. We can ambush them and kick their ass!" The helmsman said.

"Good to hear." Matthew replied.

* * *

 _Off the Coast Balikpapan_

 _Onboard the Kraken Fleet Cruiser_ Relentless King

 _Admiral Izurio Makawa commanding_

Admiral Izurio Makawa was happy, he had successfully landed nearly 45 percent of his forces and they were pushing hard through Balikpapan but resistance was rather heavy. So much so, he had sent four of his _Krivaks_ to provide Naval Gunfire support for the landing forces. Which meant he only had two _Krivaks_ , two _Kotlins_ , and his _Slava_ at his disposal to defend the transports. However against what was left in the Malay Barrier, this would be _more_ than enough to defeat any force, well any force that was _left_ in the Malay Barrier after Operation: STONE CRUSHER.

It was naturally at this point where fate decided to start laughing in Admiral Makawa's face and the muffled sounds of Naval Gunfire started ripping through the air. Followed about ten seconds later with TBS going crazy.

" _Holy fuck! We're under attack!"_

" _Who is it? Who is attacking on us?"_

" _Don't fucking care! Return fire with CIWS and SA-24s! Damnit they caught us at a bad time!"_

The roar of the CIWS mount discharging, echoed into the night, joining the chorus of Naval Gunfire, the boom and splash of shells hitting and missing targets, and the roar of blowers? What the fuck was going on?

Then suddenly a star burst illumination round exploded with a brilliant starburst of light over the far side of the formation, it did a good job of illuminating the carnage. The muffled booms of torpedoes began to reach his ears and more panicked cries over the TBS reached his ears.

" _This is_ Brotherhood _! We have been torn apart by gunfire and a torpedo! Abandoning ship!"_

" _My god! Confirmation of enemy forces, we are under-attack from fucking_ Four-stacker Destroyers _! Commence CIWS and SAM fire! Sink those bastards!"_

* * *

 _USS_ Walker _DD-163_

"Illuminate the bastards! Hit it!" Someone yelled and the powerful search light sprang to life. A Dock Landing Ship was suddenly revealed, moments later the Salvo Buzzer rang, Guns One, two, and four boomed in unison, three hits were seen on target, the AP rounds punching deep into the ship before exploding. More shots slammed out of the three 4in/50 caliber as fast as the guns could be fired. The tiny bursting charge began to tear the living hell out of the Dock Landing Ship.

The high-pitched shriek of a torpedo launching from its torpedo tube, splashing noisy into the water and then streaking toward it's target. More shells crashed into the ship. _Something_ detonated inside, likely a landing craft for suddenly the thing convulsed violently and fire and smoke exploded from the many impact wounds from 4in/50. Then the torpedo impacted. A towering shock plume was hurled the skyward. The ship quickly began to list.

All over the Southern Section of transports, the scene played out again and again. Shells and torpedoes slamming into the Dock Landing Ships, dealing crippling or fatal damage in some cases. Fires and flooding ravaging the ships, gunfire slamming into hulls and torpedoes tearing open hulls.

"Captain! Report from Mr. Garrett! Enemy _Kotlin_ spotted! He's moving in our direction! He's angling to engage us!" Reynolds said as he got the report from Mr. Garrett.

"Dammit! Designate new target, enemy _Kotlin_ -class Destroyer!" Matthew Reddy barked.

"Yessir!" Mr. Reynolds said.

The fire control platform swung around and the number one gun also traversed, moments later, the gun fired in local control. Scoring a _spectacular_ hit from a range at 10,550 meters with the optics, right in the enemy's bridge. The ship heeled rapidly over, either because everyone on the bridge was dead or injured or they were going to unshadow their full broadside, the _Walker_ did the same, which allowed _Walker_ to give her a broadside and her 4in/50s opened fire, guns one, three, and four unleashed a horrible slaughter upon the enemy ship. Hammering it ruthlessly with High Explosive shells. Then the enemy ship's aft turret returned fire, the twin 130mm gun mount firing at a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute.

Splashes began to bracket the brave _Wickes_ -class Destroyer. Any other day, she _might_ have had her, but suddenly another destroyer, the _Edsall_ appeared, her 5in/51 Caliber Guns barking angrily, as she raced to help her Division mate. The sudden appearance of the _Clemson_ -class, combined with the fire that was coming out from both Four-Stackers as well as the direction that the two streams of fire was coming from, caught the _Kotlin_ -class in a cross-fire and promptly began to take it apart.

However the _Kotlin_ didn't go down without a fight, gunfire from the destroyer did impale the hull of the _Walker_ and the _Edsall_ a few times, gouging wounds into their hulls. However, unlike the _Kotlin_ the _Wickes_ and the _Clemson_ class destroyers were designed to take a punch. Within ten minutes the _Kotlin_ was burning fiercely with flames engulfing her pilothouse and amidships area.

" _Hey Walker! If you please, you could move in and deliver the coup de grace! One Mark 15 Torpedo expressed delivered to her hull!"_ The TBS crackled excitedly with the voice of the _Edsall_ 's Captain.

"It would be our pleasure _Edsall_!" Matt said into the talker and then gave orders for a torpedo attack.

"Prepare to fire! Fire three!" The chief torpedoman aboard the _Walker_ , Bernie Sanders said, moments later their was a single _wha-cuff_ and a gleaming Mark 15 Torpedo shot out of tube and into the water.

The gleaming weapon shot through the water, rapidly approaching the crippled destroyer, chances were it would sink on its own. However, if it didn't then that was an extra hull that could come back and fight them again, which was something that wasn't needed, particularly considering that the amount of hulls at the disposal of the Malay Barrier Defense Command was _very limited_. The torpedo worked like a charm, hitting aft on the _Kotlin_ which still had it's aft gun mount blazing away at the _Walker_ as she angled away to re-engage the transports. The torpedo blew a gaping wound into the _Kotlin_ and tore her engine room wide open. That was the fatal blow. The _Kotlin_ simply couldn't take the punishment that had been mettled out by the _Wickes_ class and the _Clemson_ class, as a result after the torpedo hit, she quickly began to roll over, hissing steam as she did so.

* * *

The carnage continued as the remaining _Kotlin_ gathered the remaining _Krivaks_ as well as the flagship and raced to the aid of the transports, at least eight were already sinking, with several others under fire, however the Kraken Fleet transport ships were fighting best to the best of their ability, their AKS-630 CIWS mounts were roaring into the night, the tracer rounds that were in the belts making it look like the 30mm Gatling Guns were spewing lasers just because of the _insane_ rate of fire the CIWS systems had. The shriek of rockets as turrets that mounted SA-24 Grinch MANPAD Systems fired was incredible as well. Sadly, the weapons that they were using, they were meant for point defense and while every now and again a burst of tracers would connect, it was struggling to do meaningful damage, while the Grinches were struggling to achieve lock-on and hit the destroyers that were tearing them apart.

Onboard the USS _Walker_ , Tom Felts was working with Dennis Silva on the number three gun. That was when Tom spotted something. "Hey Dennis, if you can hit that LCAC that is beginning to leave that Dock Landing Ship, I will give you twenty bucks! Think you can hit it?" Tom said as he pointed out the LCAC that was beginning to leave the well deck of one the Dock Landing Ships.

"Pft! Sure I can hit it! You know that I am the best damn shot in the entire crew! What makes you think that I can't?" Silva growled angrily.

"I know that! But you only get two shots to do so!" Felts replied as the LCAC in question realized that their was an enemy destroyer within 8,000 meters of it and began to accelerate aggressively.

"Tell you what! If I hit that thing with both shots not only do you owe me twenty bucks, but you also owe me a pack of Bubble Gum!" Silva snapped.

"You're on!" Felts said, although he had a feeling that knowing Dennis Silva, he would soon be out twenty dollars and a pack of bubble gum.

Naturally Silva proved he was likely the best shot in the entire Asiatic Flotilla when not only he won the bet, but just to rub it in Tom's face, proceeded to hit the thing three more times and left the thing a burning wreck. Then just to guarantee the kill, he planted a shot right through the skirt of the LCAC and the thing proceeded to flop over like a duck that had just been shot dead.

"Damn Silva! Despite the fact that you are a _major_ pain in the ass! You certainly know what you are doing!" Felts remarked as he watched the LCAC which was clearly visibly thanks to the ghostly light from the star shells, proceed to capsize and quickly sink.

Suddenly and without warning, multiple splashes bracketed the _Walker_ and one shot slammed into one of the funnels.

"What the hell!?" Silva growled.

"Holy shit! Multiple enemy warships are bearing down on us, with a bone in their teeth!" Rodgers yelled so loudly that even Silva heard him. Judging by the way the destroyer suddenly turned away and began to sprint away from the action. It was clear that the retreat order had gone out. For even as the _Walker_ heeled away, she shuddered violently as a 100mm shell impaled the destroyer.

However, Silva decided that he wanted to wound one of those bastards just to let them know that they were mortal and so he lined up a shot on the biggest bastard he could pick-out, which the search light suddenly coming onto helped with that greatly. Silva knew that he would get only one shot, before he wouldn't be able to shoot at his target anymore. Thinking he had the shot lined up, to the point where he figured it would hit. He stomped on the firing pedal.

The 4in/50 Caliber Gun had it's firing circuit completed and roughly 15 pounds of propellent ignited, creating a pressure of 17 tons per square inch, the fixed round worked like a bullet in modern rifles, with the exception that it was much bigger, the 33 pound High Capacity Round went screaming down the barrel, the rifling gave the projectile spin, at the same time the barrel kicked back about 30 inches and the breech opened, and with a loud clang the spent brass cartridge hit the deck, the projectile screamed toward the _Slava_ -class Cruiser, and impaled one of the P-500 Missile Launchers, it smashed through the steel that protected the missile and then detonated.

The fuel in the missile ignited and caused a chain reaction that resulted in a massive detonation that turned night into day as the _Slava_ had everything forward of the airship landing pad into fragments and almost everyone onboard the Cruiser was killed in a instant.

"HELL YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" Silva bellowed with glee as he saw the fireball erupt on the horizon. However if anything that made the enemy mad, for shots of the 100mm and 130mm variety began to reach out after the American Destroyers, but for some reason or another, possibly because of the fact that well, they didn't know if the Americans would be leading them into a trap, not to mention the radar return that the _Wickes_ and _Clemson_ class destroyers gave off was pretty damn small, which meant that acquiring a solid fire-control solution was difficult at best, either way the enemy ships turned away.

However, despite the fact that the six Destroyers had sank twelve transports, a destroyer, and a cruiser. They hadn't inflicted enough damage on the enemy force to allow the defenders to kick the enemy off the beaches and out of Balikpapan, however they did do a lot of damage to the enemy regardless. Still, as it stood, only one destroyer in Destroyer Division 57 had escaped damage, the USS _Edsall_ DD-219. The others had suffered damage to some degree with the lightest in terms of damage was the _Alden_ , which had been riddled with 30mm CIWS fire that had racked across her hull while the worst was the _Whippie_ which had her aft deckhouse leveled by 130mm cannon fire, her deck and funnels ripped to hell by SA-24 Grinch SAMs, and her hull and pilothouse riddled with 30mm CIWS fire.

However, if anything, it was a smashing victory because of the fact late 1910s design ships and engaged and beaten ships built that were _way_ newer in terms of design. It was once again a case of David vs. Goliath and while Goliath won a strategic victory they lost in the tactical sense. It wasn't the sort of victories they could afford to handle. Still, the results were acceptable, they had given the enemy a terrible battering and had taken some in return. Either way, it had been a good day, to be certain, however they couldn't keep on losing battles in a strategic standpoint but winning battles in the tactical standpoint. It was a good way to lose campaigns and wars.

* * *

 _Onboard USS_ Edsall _DD-219_

 _Lieutenant Commander Gloria Bowman Commanding_

 _Following Lt. Cmdr. Gloria Bowman_

Lieutenant Commander Bowman found herself walking the decks of her ship. The _Edsall_ she had somehow managed to get through the action completely unscathed, despite the fact that at one point one of those funky Dock Landing Ships had taken an interesting in her well being. They had fired at least thirty SA-24s at them, by some miracle they hadn't acquired lock-on and had churned the water around the Four-Stacker.

 _I wonder if we'll get lucky next time? I mean, we get through the battle unscathed this time, but next time we could eat a torpedo and it would most likely crack the_ Edsall _right in half._ Bowman thought as she walked toward the aft deckhouse. The only reason they had escaped was the fact that the enemy had gotten cold feet but the reason they hadn't re-engaged was the fact that they were pretty much out of ammunition. However if anything, had the _Tokoro_ been with them, they likely would have sunk the entire enemy force. Still, they likely would be sent out again, because it would make sense since these bastards have a toe hold on Borneo they would likely go after the island of Celebes next. They took that, well, then they were well and truly screwed, because that would mean that there would be _way_ more possible vectors of approach that enemy ships could use.

In Bowman's eyes the situation was starting to go to hell. Why she normally didn't look at the bad side of things, this was the one time that she had come to the conclusion that if the next sortie that the fleet did ended in failure, well, then it would be time to cut their losses and run like hell for Australia. Darwin wouldn't work, however Perth-Fremantle Australia would work.

While Lieutenant Commander Bowman didn't know it, but she was right. The enemy was going to go after Celebes next. But once the enemy had Celebes, they were going to set their sights on the Island of Java, the final actions that were going to be fought were closing in on them rapidly. To the point that they would be upon them much quicker than anyone would have ever thought possible.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, there we go, while not as impressive as the other chapter that revolved around Operation: FIRST STRIKE. It was rather hard to figure out how to write this one and make it decent. Mainly because it was really just a bit of a turkey shoot against transports, not really exciting when you think about it.**

 **However the Battle of the Makassar Strait won't be the same as it was in our timeline. Mainly because airplanes don't exist, just Zeppelins, Semi-Rigid Airships, and Non-Rigid Airships. Which means that in case, the two fleets will indeed face each other in combat. However the other battles that happened in the Malay Barrier will go down as they did in history.**

 **Anyway, take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Here we go, another chapter for Haifuri: Gone Asiatic. This is the aftermath of the Battle of Balikpapan, at least the Naval aspect of it. However, know this, after this everything will go downhill and will do so very fast.**

 **With that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and set sail into this chapter!**

* * *

 _Surabaya Java_

 _Following Akeno_

Akeno sighed, she had been called to a staff meeting of all things. The destroyers that had engaged the enemy had returned. With almost every destroyer having some form of damage. Ranging from just dents and dings from HMG fire, to taking rather impressive damage from 30mm CIWS fire, SA-24s,100mm, and 130mm Naval Gunfire. As it stood, the victory that had been achieved was a major tactical victory but a strategic defeat, mainly because they had essentially won control of the battlespace but they had failed to prevent the enemy from landing sufficient forces to allow them to commence operations in Borneo.

Akeno shook her head as she continued walking toward the briefing room. If what she had heard was believable, the American Destroyers that had engaged the enemy had been lucky to escape with their skins. Still, considering the amount of carnage that had been wrought onto the enemy by those destroyers was rather impressive, particularly when considering what they had been up against. By all rights they should have had their asses kicked and kicked hard. She walked up to the door where the meeting was going to take place and walked in.

"Akeno Misaki, commander of the _Tokoro_ reporting!" Akeno said through pure memory after entering.

"Come in Commander, we have quite a bit to discuss." Admiral Doorman said.

"Yessir!" Akeno said and then walked over to an empty chair and sat down. She was surprised to see the commanding officers of the HMS _Prince of Wales_ , USS _Texas_ , HMS _Exeter_ , USS _Houston_ , HMAS _Perth_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMAS _Adelaide_ , HNLMS _Java_ , HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , HNLMS _Tromp_ , USS _Marblehead_ , HMAS _Voyager_ , HMAS _Vendetta_ , HMAS _Waterhen_ , HMS _Jupiter_ , HMS _Electra_ , HMS _Encounter_ , HNLMS _Van Ghent_ , HNLMS _Evertsen_ , HNLMS _Kortenaer_ , HNLMS _Piet Hein_ , HNLMS _Witte de With_ , HNLMS _Banckert_ , HNLMS _Van Nes_ , USS _Paul Jones_ , USS _Alden_ , USS _John D. Edwards_ , USS _Edsall_ , USS _Mahan_ , USS _Walker_ , USS _Whippie_ , USS _Barker_ , USS _Parrott_ , USS _Bulmer_ , USS _Cole_ , USS _McKee_ , USS _Stewart_ , USS _Pope_ , USS _Peary_ , USS _Pillsbury_ , USS _John D. Ford_ , USS _Ingraham_ , USS _Nome_ , USS _White Mountain_ ACR-16, USS _Aspen_ PC-62, and USS _Ilwaco_ PC-60. It was pretty much the entirety of the Malay Barrier Defense Command in terms of the commanders of it's surface assets that were currently at their disposal was here.

"Alright, let's get this meeting started. Captain Curtiss, would you please report on the action that happened at Balikpapan?" Doorman said.

"Yessir!" Matthew Curtiss said.

The young man then launched into a nearly two hour report, that had been compiled from the various After Action Reports that the captains of the various ships under his command had put together. Doorman, Hart, and Riggs all listened intently, while the various commanders took notes on how much of a licking the enemy had been dealt.

"In conclusion sirs. I believe that while we have dealt the enemy a harsh blow. My group failed in our objective of stopping the enemy from landing substantial forces on the island of Borneo. As it stands my ship took pretty severe damage during the battle. Ol' _Whippie_ is going to be in repairs for quite awhile, plus you know the wounded and the dead. However sirs, if I may. Looking at how the enemy went about this, and given the fact that we destroyed two of their modern warships and likely damaged a few more. We are probably going to see that escort screens will now be composed of their regular warships. Which means, that we will be seeing those modified _Admiral_ class Battlecruisers, whatever they use for Fast Battleships, _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers, two _Giussano_ class Light Cruisers, three _Chapayev_ class Light Cruisers, _Mogador_ class Large Destroyers, _Le Hardi_ class Destroyers, and if we are _really_ unlucky maybe even the occasional _Fuji_ class Superdreadnought. Still, despite that fact, it is a much more even playing field, which is good news for us." Curtiss said, finishing his report.

"Very well Captain Curtiss. Thank you for your report." Doorman said.

Curtiss nodded and took that as his cue to sit down. Before long a rather heated debate about what to do developed. Doorman was pleased by the results and argued that they should go after the enemy invasion fleets. Particularly considering that it had taken the better part of a week and half for the American Destroyer Division to return. Hart and Riggs while they were pleased wanted to fight delaying actions to buy enough time for the _Enterprise_ Strike Group to arrive on the scene. Doorman fired right back, stating that while they could fight the delaying actions they also had to stop the Invasion fleets, and that would also help to buy time.

Eventually though, Sophie, the commander of the _Prince of Wales_ proposed something that spoke volumes about their situation. "Sirs! Please, we have _no_ choice _but_ to go after the enemy Invasion fleets considering how aggressively they are expanding. If we _don't_ go after them, eventually we will be forced out, because they will gain a foothold on this island and we will have no choice but to leave. So while delaying actions under normal circumstances fighting pirates who are extremely well-equipped would work, these _aren't_ normal circumstances." She said forcefully.

That made Hart and Riggs agree with Doorman. The Invasion Fleets needed to be stopped at all costs. Of course it was at this moment that an aide came in and handed something to Doorman who muttered a series of curse words under his breath.

"I am happy we are agreed on the fact that we need to stop enemy invasion fleets. A Blumer Recon flight over Balikpapan has discovered something that needs to be taken care of ASAP. An enemy invasion force, it has twenty Dock Landing Ships of the same variety we saw at the Naval Battle of Balikpapan, it's escort screen is composed of one Battleship _Alasce_ class, two Battlecruisers both _Admiral_ class, three Heavy Cruisers all of which are _Zao_ class, two Light Cruisers one _Giussano_ class and one _Chapayev_ class, two Large Destroyers both _Mogador_ class, and ten Destroyers all of them _Le Hardi_ class. They are getting ready to sail, their target is likely going to be the city of Makassar on the island of the Celebes. As such, our order of battle is going to be as follows, HMS _Prince of Wales_ will be the force flagship, also in the main body of our force will be USS _Texas_ , USS _Houston_ , USS _Marblehead,_ the _Tokoro_ , HNLMS _Tromp_ , and HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , the escort screen will be composed of the HNLMS _Van Ghent_ , HNLMS _Evertsen_ , HNLMS _Piet Hein_ , HMS _Encounter_ , USS _Pope_ , USS _Walker_ , HMAS _Vendetta_ , HMAS _Voyager_ , HMAS _Waterhen_ , USS _McKee_ , and USS _Ingraham_. We will set sail at 0150 hours tomorrow morning, this gives us the best chance to intercept the enemy invasion force and either destroy it or inflict enough damage that we force them to call off the attempt. If we fail, the enemy will be to completely lock down the Makassar Strait, which will be really bad for us. We can't allow that to happen. Any questions?" Doorman said.

The commanding officer of the HNLMS _Tromp_ stood up. "Sir? Wouldn't it make more sense to trade the _Tromp_ for the _Exeter_? Or at the very least add the _Exeter_ to our formation?" She said.

"As much as I would like to agree with you Captain, that sadly isn't an option. Particularly considering that the _Dorsetshire_ will be out of action for at least a month. Maybe longer. This means we only have two combat ready heavy cruisers. The _Houston_ and the _Exeter_ , we got extremely unlucky that the _Sydney_ suffered a turbine casualty during the relocation from Manila. Thus I would rather not have one battle put them both on the bottom or in drydock for a similar length of time. Now before you go on about why I am deploying both of our Battleships is because we need them so we can effectively fight the three big heavies that the enemy will have on this mission. The job of the Battlecruiser after all is to munch on Heavy Cruisers, Light Cruisers, Armored Cruisers, and Protected Cruisers. I hate to say it, but I am sending the _Nome_ , _White Mountain_ , _Aspen_ , and _Ilwaco_ to Australia, they are good ships, but in this situation they are downright useless. The loss of the _Silverton_ , combined with the battering that the _Durango_ and the _Nome_ took at Singapore makes that point painfully clear. As such, the _Nome_ , _White Mountain_ , _Aspen_ , and _Ilwaco_ are to set sail for Perth-Fremantle Australia at 2030 hours, leave Surabaya Java and don't stop until you reach Perth-Fremantle." Doorman said.

"Now wait just a minute! Why the hell do you think the _Nome_ , _White Mountain_ , _Aspen_ , and _Ilwaco_ are useless!?" Admiral Riggs snarled.

"Riggs, need I remind you that out of a crew compliment of Fifty-six on the _Silverton_ , seventeen were killed when she was sunk, with everyone else onboard having some sort of injury, combined with the fact that it took just three salvos from a Battlecruiser to sink her. Plus the _Durango_ got into a point blank slugging match with a _Zao_ class Heavy Cruiser and smashed into an unsalvageable hulk, something tells me that every time we have one of those ships go out, the enemy will likely focus fire on it because they know they can kill it rather effortlessly. So it makes the most sense for us to send those ships and their crews to safety." Doorman replied coolly, looking at the American Admiral.

Riggs opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and shook his head. "Doorman, when you put it that way. You're correct, the _Nome_ , _White Mountain_ , _Aspen_ , and _Ilwaco_ are more of an liability than an asset in this situation. As a matter of fact, I want those ships out of here ASAP. Have them set sail by sundown actually." He said before looking around.

"Any other questions?" Doorman said.

When there was no hands going up or anything. Doorman nodded. "Alright, dismissed, we have a big offensive ahead of us and I want all of us on our game." He said.

* * *

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Following Akeno Misaki_

Some thirty minutes later found Akeno holding a briefing with her crew in the classroom onboard the ship. "They want us to set sail at 0150 Hours tomorrow morning? They are insane, it will still be pitch dark during that time. I mean, I have experience doing sailing at night, but never maneuvering out of a harbor at night. Particularly considering that Surabaya is always a complex hustle and bustle of activity." Rin said shocked.

"Don't worry Rin, we will likely have a Harbor Pilot handle getting the _Tokoro_ out of the harbor. Just like the first time we entered Surabaya Java. So really nothing to worry about there." Kirkland said giving the helmsman a kind smile.

"Oh right, forgot about that fact." Rin said.

"We are set for this mission in terms of supplies as well. Our food stocks, freshwater stocks, and fuel stocks are all at maximum. In terms of combat stores, main battery ammunition, torpedo stores, 25mm ammunition stores, and depth charge stores are all at maximum as well." Koko said.

"Well, the fact of the matter is, this is a rather important mission. Particularly considering what would happen if we were to fail in our mission." Noma said with a sigh.

Everyone sighed as they realized just how bad it would be if they failed their mission.

"Captain, I have to ask, what is the composition of the enemy fleet? Do we know what it is?" Mei asked.

"As a matter of fact, we do know what the composition of the enemy fleet is going to be, and I have to say this. The odds are a little long even for us. They outnumber us in just about every respect. Enemy forces are composed of one fast Battleship an _Alasce_ class, two Battlecruisers both of which are _Admiral_ class Battlecruisers likely armed with 16in guns, three _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers, two _Giussano_ class Light Cruisers, three _Chapayev_ class Light Cruisers, two _Mogador_ class Large Destroyers, and ten _Le Hardi_ class Destroyers. This is going to be a tough fight, particularly when one considers our own forces." Akeno said.

"What are our own forces going to be composed of?" Tama asked curiously.

"Our own forces are going to be composed of the following ships. HMS _Prince of Wales_ , USS _Texas_ , USS _Houston_ , USS _Marblehead_ , _Tokoro_ , HNLMS _Tromp_ , HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , HNLMS _Van Ghent_ , HNLMS _Evertsen_ , HNLMS _Piet Hein_ , HMS _Encounter_ , USS _Pope_ , USS _Walker_ , HMAS _Vendetta_ , HMAS _Voyager_ , HMAS _Waterhen_ , USS _McKee_ , and USS _Ingraham_. That is our force, to be frank I would feel a little better if we had the _Exeter_ or _Repulse_ I would certainly feel better about engaging this enemy fleet." Akeno said grimly.

Tama grimaced and Mei spoke up. "Why the hell is the _Exeter_ not sortieing? We certainly could use her in this battle! So why is she not sortieing for this action?" She said with a frown on her face.

"As it stands we only have two combat capable Heavy Cruisers, _Houston_ and _Exeter_ , with _Sydney_ down thanks to a turbine casualty, _Cornwall_ sunk, and _Dorsetshire_ in the drydocks for at least a month getting repaired from the torpedo hit she took. We can't afford to lose our two remaining Heavy Cruisers in one battle. That would make our situation untenable plain and simple. It makes a lot sense as to why the brass don't want both of our Heavy Cruisers deployed at this battle." Kirkland said with a grimace.

The look on Mei's face changed to one of understanding. "It makes sense I guess. Mainly because it would suck if we lost both of our Heavy Cruisers in one battle. So I guess if we can keep one in reserve. Then I guess we are good. However what about the Armored Cruisers and Protected Cruisers?" She said.

"Also during the meeting, we decided what the two Armored Cruisers, USS _Nome_ and USS _White Mountain_ as well as the two remaining Protected Cruisers USS _Aspen_ and USS _Ilwaco_ are going to do. That being, at sundown they are to set sail heading for Australia. The reason being they are pretty damn useless. I mean we saw just how vulnerable Protected Cruisers are against just one Battlecruiser, the loss of USS _Silverton_ not to mention we saw that even Protected Cruisers despite their Heavy Cruiser Grade firepower they just can't take much of a pounding from proper Heavy Cruisers. Not to mention the Armored Cruisers they have great firepower, but the pounding that the _Nome_ suffered against that _Zao_ class Heavy Cruiser, well it's a miracle she _didn't_ sink. So yeah useless." Akeno said shaking her head.

Koko sighed "I see why they don't want the _Nome_ , _White Mountain_ , _Aspen_ , and _Ilwaco_. They don't want to put them in harm's way. Makes sense." She said.

"Right, with all of that out of the way. Let's start preparations to get underway. Its 2245 hours right now. The meeting is adjourned, let's do our best and show that we we are just as good as the rest of them!" Akeno said and the jubilant encouragement and response that went up from that as everyone got out of their seats and went to prepare the _Tokoro_ to weigh anchor and set sail.

* * *

 _Onboard USS_ Texas _BB-35_

 _Captain Henry Johnston Commanding_

If there was one thing that Captain Henry Johnston, commanding officer of the USS _Texas_ BB-39 wasn't happy about. It was the fact that his ship was going to have to go into battle where the enemy Battleships and Battlecruisers had 15in and 16in guns, these guns would laugh at the armor of the _Texas_ or 'Yellow Rose' as everyone called her. The thing was, those Battlecruisers would have trouble stopping 14in APC rounds. Not to mention she would make mincemeat out of any Cruiser that dared to show it's broadside. With ten 14in guns, she had a fairly impressive broadside weight.

"All right! How are preparations coming along?" Henry barked, he wanted his ship to be one of the first ships out of the harbor. He loved his ship and his crew was arguably the best in the entire United States Navy Junior Academy Asiatic Floatilla with the exception of the crew of the USS _Boise_ , that ship always went to the honor students. Sadly, without the _Boise_ and her fifteen 6in/47 Caliber Naval Guns and in their insane rate of fire, the firepower of any force that the Malay Barrier Defense Command or MBDC could muster would be seriously hampered.

As it stood, they could still muster a fair bit of firepower. However if anything, Henry wished that the destroyers that they had, were more modern, they had basically the last five _Wickes_ class Destroyers that were still in service in the United States Junior Naval Academy fleets although the _Clemson_ class was more abundant mainly due to the firepower that it had. The 5in/51 Caliber Naval Guns they were armed with were more powerful than the 4in/50s that the _Wickes_ class Destroyers had. Although the amount of torpedoes that both classes carried was rather nice.

"It's going rather well Captain! We got six boilers hot, ready to rock and roll! Not to mention we have finished going over our two turbines with a fine tooth comb, just about everything is in order." Johnston's first officer, a young woman by the name of Akira Woods said.

"So we are pretty much set? Just waiting for the command for all ships to raise anchor and set sail?" Johnston asked.

"Yes sir we are. We are pretty much ready to go at a moment's notice. I seriously wish though that we could have given the _Tokoro_ one of our damage control teams but their just isn't time. I guess they will have to make due." Woods replied.

As preparations continued on one of the two battleships in the force that was going to set sail to engage the enemy. They went about it with a calm efficiency preparing the warship for her first major surface action well, ever. In all of the time that the aging Battleship had ever been at sea, she had not once fired her guns in anger at enemy warships, she had only fired her guns in drills and in practice, not even during the RATs incident had she been forced to fire her guns in anger. The same was true for almost all of the ships in the formation that was sailing to meet the enemy and stop them from gaining a foothold on the island of Celebes.

* * *

 _Onboard USS_ Walker _DD-163_

 _Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy commanding_

"You gotta be kidding me skipper!" The Bosun Mate for USS _Walker_ , Chief Fitzhugh Grey growled.

"I am sorry Boats, but that is the deployment plan. We are heading out again. Believe me, I don't want to head out, particularly considering that _Walker_ took quite a bit of damage, but the Brass wants us out their. Which means tough luck, we are going to have to have repairs finished and have her ready to sail by 0150 hours tomorrow." Matt replied with a sigh.

"Sir, our boilers are still in good shape, the same goes for our turbines, reduction gears, and steering engines. Fuel levels are good as well." Spanky said with a smile.

"That's good to here. Mr. Letts how is everything else?" Matt asked looking the supply officer for the USS _Walker_.

"We are pretty much set sir. Our ammunition and torpedoes has been restocked. Our fuel bunkers are full of fuel oil, our food levels are pretty good but sadly our Freshwater condenser is choking up again, and sadly _Blackhawk_ doesn't have one for us, they gave the last one they had to the _Whippie_ because her's got annihilated by fragments from several SA-24s. So no joy there, going to have to take the damn thing apart and find out what the problem is. However in light of that, we do have a respectable amount of bottled water plus you know, Coca-Cola for the Coke Machine. I am amazed the thing actually came through the battle unscathed." Lieutenant Junior Grade Alan Letts, the supply officer for the old American _Wickes_ class Destroyer said.

"So bottomline, we are ready to set sail?" Matt asked, steepling his fingers.

"Pretty much sir. I have boilers one and two at 150 PSI with boilers three and four ready to be light off at a moment's notice. Plus given the report that Mr. Letts has just given us. We are pretty much all set." Spanky said.

"Good to hear, anything else of note?" Matt asked.

"No not really sir, the lone Skipper High Speed Launch that we have took a direct hit from a SA-24 and it's a real mess. Not salvageable I am afraid, but the Whale Boat and the Motor Launches that we have are both in good shape. But yeah, we are set to go into battle." Boats growled.

Matt nodded, it was good knowing that the _Walker_ was ready for action. Still he was nervous, last two times they had engaged the enemy it had been at night, a destroyer's natural environment. However something told Matt, that this time was going to be different. That they were going to meet the enemy in broad daylight, which was most certainly _not_ a destroyer's natural environment.

Still, it was bound to be something seeing Heavy Cruisers and Battleships blazing away at each other for all their worth. Sure he had seen _Texas_ do Gunnery drills, but he had never seen two Battleships blazing away at targets that were returning fire at the ships.

* * *

 _USS_ Nome _ACR-15_

 _Thomas Higgins commanding_

Thomas Higgins commanding officer for USS _Nome_ ACR-15 was in a bad mood. The reason he was in a bad mood was quite simple, his ship along with her sister the _White Mountain_ ACR-16 plus the two remaining Protected Cruisers in the Asiatic Flotilla had been ordered out of the Malay Barrier and to make a dash to Fremantle Australia which was about as far as one could get from where the action would be occurring. However they weren't going to be making the dash alone, several of the Blue Mermaid ships that were left, which sadly there wasn't many, had been ordered by their commanding officers as well to make a dash for safety as well, not to mention, to cover the two Armored Cruisers and the two Protected Cruisers as they made their dash south as well.

However Higgins was always willing to get into a scuffle to protect those who would suffer injustices or to simply lend a helping hand. Now he was being told to run for safety while his friends would remain behind and fight and likely die against an enemy that wished to remove Freedom of the Seas from one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. It just wasn't right, but he also knew why the _Nome_ as well as the _White Mountain_ and the Protected Cruisers _Aspen_ and _Ilwaco_ were being ordered south. They really didn't stand a chance against Capital ships, despite the fact that they carried good firepower.

Didn't mean that he was unhappy with the notion of having to be the first set of warships to leave. After all, his ship had been at Singapore and had really done solid work in engaging the enemy there. However his ship had taken a heavy beating in the battle. It made him wonder, would the _Nome_ be able to win in a straight up fight against enemy ships like Heavy Cruisers? Probably not, he shook his head. He needed to get his ship out of here and judging from the report that he had just gotten from Engineering his ship would soon be ready to sail.

"XO, are we ready to sail?" Higgins asked as he marched onto the bridge of the _Nome_.

"Yes sir! Our eight boilers have built up a considerable amount of steam that is more than sufficient to move the ship. Our escorts are ready to go, as is the _White Mountain_ , the _Aspen_ , and the _Ilwaco_. We are ready to weigh anchor sir." Lana said as she looked up at her skipper.

"Understood, signal the harbor master. Tell him that we are requesting permission to set sail." Higgins said.

"Yes sir!" Lana said.

Some thirty minutes later, the various ships, which included the _Nome_ , _White Mountain_ , _Aspen_ , and the _Ilwaco_ for main heavy warships plus the RSS _Dauntless_ , RSS _Freedom_ , RSS _Brave_ , KRI _John Lie_ , and BRP _Ramon Alcaraz_ got permission to clear their berths. Anchors were raised, horns and whistles blew as the ships soldiered out of Surabaya Java and began proceeded toward the Bali Strait, a rather deep strait that provided easy access to the area that they needed to run to. The safety that was Australia.

However as the _Nome_ and her consorts sailed with the remains of several Blue Mermaid Forces, as in the ships they were sailing in tandem with was literally all that was left of the Philippine, Indonesian, and Singaporean Blumer Forces. It was a damn shame, that this was all that was left of so many professional naval police forces. The Thailand, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laos, Bruneian, and Myanmaran Blumer Forces had been all but wiped out, their forces blown apart by devastatingly accurate gunfire and torpedoes, to the point that there was nothing left of their forces. Higgins got the feeling that the next time he saw ships of the Malay Barrier Defense Command, there wasn't going to be as many ships still afloat or intact for that matter.

Sadly, he had _no_ idea how right he was going to be and that the battles that were going to be happening over the next few days were not going to be pretty affairs at all.

* * *

 _0150 Hours_

 _Surabaya Java_

 _Departure of Task Force Pendragon_

Despite the fact that it was night, you could still see numerous warships building up steam to set sail. The blowers on the various ships rumbled and they moved forward with a purpose as smoke curled from their stacks. Pilot boats and airships moved to and thro unloading pilots who began to guide the ships out of the anchorage and then through the Madura Strait. The goal was to get the entire force that was moving to engage the island of Celebes invasion force quickly.

Onboard the _Tokoro_ , Akeno was nervous. Her ship had recently been told that they were free to maneuver by a pilot. They were now maneuvering to assume their position in the formation which, the formation had the destroyers _Voyager_ , _Vendetta_ , _Waterhen_ , and _McKee_ in the van of the formation. Behind the van was in order _Tromp_ , _Houston_ , _Prince of Wales_ , _Texas_ , _Marblehead_ , _Tokoro_ , and _De Ruyter_ , with the remaining destroyers _Ingraham_ , _Walker_ , _Pope_ , _Encounter_ , _Van Ghent_ , _Eversten_ , and _Piet Hein_ in the rear of the formation.

The reason she was nervous was because unlike Operation: FIRST STRIKE where the _Tokoro_ didn't take part in much action. Only really taking part in the Battle of the Sunda Strait and suffering pretty major damage in the process. However they hadn't expected to encounter enemy forces, but this time around they were going to be part of the main battleline engaging enemy ships. Worse most of the enemy ships could effortlessly render the _Tokoro_ a twisted mess with ease, sending her to the bottom with most of her crew going with her as well.

"Nervous captain?" Mashiro asked.

"You have no idea, I am more nervous than before we engaged the _Musashi_ last year for the final time. Mainly because the ships we are going to fighting, while they are Warships, their gunnery is bound to be better than ours in every respect. Plus I am really worried, how fast this situation can go wrong, what if some of us are killed or badly wounded. Worse, if that occurs I don't think I will ever be able to forgive myself." Akeno said grimly.

"Stuff like that might happen. All things considering we should be counting our lucky stars that we took the two major hits where we did. Otherwise that would have happened anyway. Don't worry about it okay, we will cross that bridge when we come to it." Mashiro said with a smile.

"Thanks Shiro-chan. I guess we need to focus on the upcoming battle ahead of us and be ready for anything." Akeno said and Mashiro nodded.

With that in mind, Akeno stood up grabbed her hat, told Mashiro to get some sleep and went to the bridge. Something told her she was in for a rough couple of days. She had no idea how right she was.

* * *

 **AN: Alright! There we go, another chapter for Haifuri: Gone Asiatic. As it stands the order of battle has been determined for both sides, however the battle won't go as you think it would.**

 **Anyway take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Alright! Another chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic, this is the chapter where it just falls apart at the seams. Where it all drops in the pot and promptly goes to shitville. Still as it stands, our heroes will be** _ **damned**_ **if they don't give a good showing.**

 **Anyway, with that out of the way, let's weigh anchor and set sail into the chapter.**

* * *

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Following Akeno_

Akeno Misaki was in the grip of a nightmare. She was tossing and turning in her bed. Muttering under her breath as the nightmare dragged her deeper into it's terrifyingly depths.

* * *

 _Nightmare_

"Give me a report! How many of our ships are left?!" Akeno yelled into the speaking tube that led to the communications shack, the thunderous shriek of shells tearing through the air followed by the enormous splashes as shells tore through the water and detonated. The cries of the wounded and the dying were everywhere, the booming crash of Naval Rifles discharging were everywhere. It was awe-inspiring to watch as well as scary as hell. Not to mention, it made almost impossible to figure out which ships were still afloat and which ships weren't afloat.

" _It's not looking good Captain! The_ Kortenaer _is gone as is the_ Dauntless _! The_ Kortenaer _was done in by a torpedo._ Kortenaer _took one and in the words of the Radioman on the_ John D. Edwards _said she was hit by one torpedo, blew up, turned over, and sank all at once! They had to turn so they wouldn't ram what was left. The_ Dauntless _took multiple hits from a heavy cruiser, as well as two torpedoes, they are sinking as well._ Exeter _is reporting that their Fire Control Radar has gone on the fritz, they're accuracy has been greatly reduced, they are trying to fix it, but they don't know where the problem is! All other ships that are left in the formation are reporting damage!"_ Tsugumi replied.

"Dammit! Keep me posted Tsugumi!" Akeno replied as the _Tokoro_ shook violently from a salvo landing close by. She moved to the Bridgewing facing the enemy fleet and raised her binoculars to look at the enemy fleet and frowned, her lips becoming a tight grimace as she stared at them. The enemy had one _Alasce_ class Fast Battleship, two _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers, three _Chapayev_ class Light Cruisers, one _Giussano_ class Light Cruiser, three _Mogador_ class Large Destroyers, twelve _Le Hardi_ class Destroyers, plus a dozen transports that they hadn't even spotted yet.

Arrayed against them had been the HMS _Prince of Wales_ , USS _Houston_ , HMS _Exeter_ , _Tokoro_ , HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , HNLMS _Java_ , HMAS _Perth_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMS _Electra_ , HMS _Encounter_ , HMS _Jupiter_ , HMAS _Voyager_ , HNLMS _Kortenaer_ , HNLMS _Witte de With_ , USS _Alden_ , USS _John D. Edwards_ , USS _John D. Ford_ , USS _Paul Jones_ , USS _Walker_ , and USS _Mahan_. They were equal in terms of Battleships and Heavy Cruisers, had outnumbered the enemy in terms of Light Cruisers, but with the loss of the _Dauntless_ they were now even, and were hopelessly outnumbered in terms of Destroyers and Destroyer Leaders.

Akeno looked forward to the _Exeter_ , whose eight 8in guns were voicing their wrath against the enemy warships, keeping up a spirited fire. Ahead of her _Houston_ 's guns kept on booming every few seconds, but she only had two-thirds of her main battery in action, the third turret was a demolished wreck, as did the _Prince of Wales_ her main battery was booming angrily hurling 1,500 pound projectiles down range, aft of the _Tokoro_ the _Java_ , _De Ruyter_ , and _Perth_ were blazing away with their 5.9in and 6in guns as was the _Tokoro_ with her 6in guns. The few _Clemson_ class Destroyers were firing their 5in/51s but the range was extreme for them.

Suddenly with a crunch and a crash of tortured scream, a thundering _whoosh_ , the _Exeter_ took a direct hit, a gout of steam exploded outward from the wound. The British Heavy Cruiser instantly slowed as a boiler room was torn apart by a direct hit. Suddenly an explosion of fire and smoke vomited skyward in front of _Exeter_ and _Houston_.

Akeno sprinted back inside the bridge. "Tsugumi! How is it looking out their? What's going on?!" She barked into the speaking tube.

"Voyager _has been hit! She's been hit! Several shells just blew her apart, she's still afloat but is heavily damaged! They are retiring from the battle!_ Exeter _has suffered a direct hit, she is heavily damaged. This is getting worse by the moment!"_ Tsugumi reported breathlessly.

Suddenly amid a series of splashes their were several sickening crashes, followed by several detonations that shook the _Tokoro_ horribly. Screams of pain began coming from the engine room speaking tube.

"Maron! Is everything alright down their?! What happened?" She asked frantically, that's when she noticed that the _Tokoro_ was slowing down.

" _We've been hit! Near as I can figure! We have lost Turbine two! I am shunting all steam that's going to the turbine two to turbines One and three! That's not the worst of it however! Reo-chan is down! She's badly injured, a shell fragment just ripped her abdomen wide open, it's a huge bloody gash! Sora-chan is also down! She had fragment impale itself in her left arm! We need medical personnel down here now!"_ Maron shouted, her voice filled with shock, horror, and anger. There was still screaming happening the background.

"Right! Hang in their!" Akeno barked, before moving to the speaking tube for the wardroom. This was bad, two of her fellow shipmates that she had sworn to protect had been gravely injured. She had failed them.

"Kaburagi! We need medical personnel down in the engine room now! We have two critically injured cases!" Akeno cried into the speaking tube and she was relieved when the stoic voice of the _Tokoro_ 's Chief Medical Officer came back over the speaking tube.

" _Roger! Sending Mimi and Uda now! However due to the fact that we have two injured. I am also requesting that Kirkland lends a hand as well!"_ Kaburagi replied, her voice sounding stoic as ever.

"Thanks! Please take care of them!" Akeno replied.

" _I will do my best."_ Kaburagi said.

Suddenly seven columns of water erupted around the _Tokoro_ , their was a horrific sounding _boom_ that shook the ship so violently that Akeno, as well as probably everyone else on the bridge save Rin, Tama, and Mei and maybe a few others on board tumbled to the deck. "Report!" Akeno shouted.

Tama replied first. "Turret four is out of action! It took a direct hit and exploded! We're lucky that the ammunition for it didn't cook off!" She said quickly after hearing a report from her gunnery team.

Mashiro's voice, sounding scared out of her mind came over the speaking tube for the Aft deckhouse. " _The amidships platform and searchlight platform are_ gone _! They are twisted unrecognizable messes! I think we have two more holes in the funnel as well! The deck plating is severely damaged near the aft torpedo mount! I think we should dump our torpedoes right now! We probably got lucky! But the sooner those torpedoes are off the ship the less of a chance their is that we will be crippled by a lucky shot!"_ She reported fearfully.

Akeno came to decision right then and their. "Mei! What ships in the enemy formation are in range for a torpedo attack?" She asked quickly, grimacing as she watched as several 6in APC rounds impale the _Exeter_ , the Heavy Cruiser was struggling to maintain her position in the formation thanks to her boiler room hit, her guns were still blazing away, the shots slammed in the belt of the Cruiser and fell into the water. Their penetrators stopped cold by the armor of the British Heavy Cruiser.

"Two ships are in range! One of them is the _Giussano_ and the other one is one of the _Zao_ s. From what I can tell though! That _Giussano_ is heavily damaged, just by looking through the torpedo director, I can see several fires on her! I-" Mei was suddenly cutoff by a ball of fire erupting on the horizon, followed a few moments later by a muffled **boom** reaching them, which caused cheers to resounded through the bridge. As it became clear that one of the enemy warships had just exploded.

Moments later Tsugumi's voice came through the speaking tube for the radio room, sounding absolutely giddy. " _Captain! Report from the_ Exeter _! "Scratch one Light Cruiser!" They blew the_ Giussano _out of the water, they think that one of their shells found a magazine for the thing and set it off! We might be able to win this!"_ She said jubilantly.

"Alright! Thanks for the update, Tsugumi!" Akeno barked, she then turned to Mei and smiled slightly. "Mei, put our fish into that _Zao_ , let's see how they like these new Mark 17 Torpedoes!" Akeno shouted, just so she could be heard over the thunderous noise of combat that was constantly ongoing.

"Right!" Mei replied, before turning to the speaking tube and barking out orders. A few minutes later the report came in.

"Ready to commence torpedo attack!" She reported.

"Commence attack!" Akeno ordered.

"Fire in salvo! Mount one: Fire one...fire three….fire five! Mount two: Fire two...fire four….fire six!" Mei barked in the speaking tube for the two torpedo mounts. Each new firing command that was sent caused the operator in the torpedo mount to fire a small black powder charge that forced the torpedo out of the tube and into the water.

"Torpedoes are away Captain!" Mei reported.

"Understood!" Akeno replied.

Suddenly another rumbling roar of tore through the air as shells screamed toward the _Tokoro_ sounding like a speeding freight train. Judging by the sound there was more than just one ship shooting at them this time around and there was a hell of a lot of shells screaming in.

Twenty-one enormous splashes exploded upward around the _Tokoro_ , just as the ship heaved sickeningly, with an loud _bang_ a shell cleaved through the badly punctured funnel without exploding. Another shell tore into the hull, laughing at the belt armor that the Light Cruiser possessed and exploding somewhere within the ship, while the last shell, from one of the _Chapayev_ class Light Cruisers impaled the _Tokoro_ at the base of Pilothouse, a fraction a second later, it exploded.

A fireball erupted at the base of the pilothouse, a storm of fragments went screaming everywhere. The teak wood for the bridge decking shattered as pieces of steel tore through the spall liner that surrounded the area with ease, heavy fragments flew through the air. Something, maybe several things slammed into Akeno's chest being stopped cold by the ballistic vest she was wearing and it staggered her with the sheer energy that they had behind them, another fragment grazed her cheek, slashing through the strap to her helmet and being stopped by her helmet an instant later, the sheer kinetic energy behind the fragment took the thing right off her head. Stunned by what had just occurred she looked around and it promptly felt like someone had then just slammed a knife into her heart and twisted it.

Rin was down on the shattered deck of the bridge, her helmet was on the deck resting against the bulkhead in the back of the bridge and the back top portion of her head was an unrecognizable bloody mess, her eyes were glazed over and she was unmoving. Mei was down as well, clutching her hand and screaming in pain, she also had a bloody gash across her right arm and left thigh. Tama wasn't down but it was clear she was in a hell of a lot of pain and she was clutching her shoulder. Koko didn't appear to be hurt, but she was holding Rin and wailing about her being dead.

 _No, no, no, no! Rin. This can't be happening. It just can't be._ Akeno thought desperately. As she moved toward Rin and put her fingers against her neck, on the carotid artery, and to her shock and horror, found no pulse. Rin was actually gone, her life taken in an instant.

"Captain!" Tama said, her eyes wide in shock, she was looking at something that was on her. To be specific, something on her side.

Before she looked at where Tama was looking Akeno looked Tama in the eyes. "Tell the Deputy Captain, that the ship is her's! Also alert Kaburagi, tell them we need medics on the bridge now!" She said, then promptly looked down at where Tama had been looking and then wished she hadn't.

Her right side was dark with something, she put her hand to where it was dark and it came away sticky and red, it was blood. Then she suddenly collapsed as her legs gave out, she hit the deck with a painful thud, which elicited a pained scream from her. She saw Tama say something into the speaking tube that lead to the aft deckhouse.

It couldn't end like this! Surely it couldn't! But the thing was as her vision became blurry as the two medics, followed by the powerful towering form of Kirkland herself entering the bridge, spotting her and moving towards her, she realized it likely _would_ end like this.

* * *

Akeno snapped awake, sitting bolt upright and clutching her chest. Her heart was hammering like an assault rifle in her chest. She was drenched in a cold sweat, she looked around. It had just been a nightmare, nothing more and nothing less. However, that was beside the point, they had a battle to fight today, a tough one too. Considering what the enemy force composition was.

She shuddered as she realized that they were vastly outnumbered in every department, save for one really. The enemy had one Fast Battleship, two Battlecruisers, three Heavy Cruisers, five Light Cruisers, two Large Destroyers, and ten Destroyers.

Arrayed against them was one Fast Battleship, one Super-Dreadnought, one Heavy Cruiser, four Light Cruisers, and eleven Destroyers. They had the enemy outnumbered in terms of Super Dreadnoughts and Destroyers. The problem was, that the destroyers were old and outdated plus the _Texas_ could really only go so fast, even with Turbine Engines powering her -a modification that had been done to her to help with the engineers understand how to do maintenance on turbines- which was only about twenty-three knots, the fact that they had only one Heavy Cruiser _Houston_ and the fact she would have to fight off three of the damn things didn't help matters, most of the Light Cruisers that they had were decently new at least, and would certainly give those enemy Light Cruisers a bit of problem, and the same was true for those Large Destroyers. However that was really the _only_ good news that they had in this whole screwed up mess.

Shaking her head, Akeno got out of bed and got dressed. It was almost time for her shift to start anyway. Besides, thanks to constant patrols that were keeping an eye on the enemy ships, also by looking at the reports, Akeno could tell that they were going to engage the enemy today, she could just feel it in her gut.

After getting dressed she left her quarters and headed up to the bridge. When she got there she was surprised to see that both Mashiro and Kirkland were waiting there as well.

"Good morning Skipper!" Kirkland said, laying eyes on Akeno, before frowning. "Is there something wrong?" She asked.

In hindsight, Akeno realized that she probably looked like she had been through to hell and back. "Had a nightmare, that's all. Nothing more and nothing less." Akeno replied.

Kirkland nodded, but Mashiro sighed. "What happened in it Captain? You look rather frazzled." She said.

"Now that she mentions it Skipper. She is correct. What happened in your nightmare?" Kirkland said.

Akeno shook her head, then sighed. Deciding it wasn't a good idea to argue with the Bosun, she told them the extent of the nightmare. Leaving everyone on the bridge, with the exception of Kirkland looking about a minute from throwing up. Rin in particular looked shaken, considering what had happened to her in Akeno's dream.

"That's horrifying Skipper, goddamn that's scary. I guess I need to tell you guys something as well, that this is really my second attempt to complete my freshman year in the United States Junior Navy Academy. It happened, about three years ago now, I was a gunner on the Protected Cruiser _Durango_ , when we got a distress signal from a merchant, it was the MV _Malay Flyer_ , they had been attacked by something, however they weren't sure what it was, but they were crippled and taking on water. Anyway, I was assigned to the rescue team, we got aboard, when suddenly an honest to god Pre-Dreadnought, similar to one that the Armored Fleet was known to use, came out of nowhere, it opened fire on the _Malay Flyer_ , the first salvo wiped out the engine room and tore the hell out of the backend of the ship. Next few minutes blurred together, anyway then all of sudden, flames are roaring all over the deck, the _Durango_ is locked in a brutal brawl with that Pre-Dreadnought and is taking a bit of a beating doing it, but she's dishing it out in return. Someone, I think it was the leader of the Rescue mission called that we need to get off the ship ASAP. When that thing's next salvo hit the _Malay Flyer_ , and she just blew up, last thing I remembered was being swept off my feet and being thrown into the air, searing pain blazing through me, my exact thoughts before I consciousness was Oh crap. I came to in a Singapore Hospital about a month later, I had four broken ribs, the rest were cracked, I also had broken right leg, my left femur had about a six inch long crack in it, and a fair amount of internal bleeding. I was in rehabilitation and recovery for a good two and three-quarter years. This was supposed to be my second attempt at completing my first year. I got the scars to prove it as well. If anything, maybe God was telling me to join a different arm in the United States Armed Forces, but that line of 'A global force for good.' just got me hooked." Kirkland said, her eyes nostalgic, but her tone of voice saddened.

"I remember hearing about that, they called it the _Malay Flyer_ Incident. Some people believe that is possibly a remnant of the Armored Fleet that basically demolished shipping around Japan. Others believe that it was first time pirates who didn't know what they were doing. Either way, it was saddening because of the fact that not only did the majority of the forty man crew on the _Malay Flyer_ was killed when she went up. But out of that five man rescue team sent aboard, three didn't make it, and the other is still in rehab, mainly because when she was thrown from the _Malay Flyer_ when she exploded, she broke her femur in two places and shattered her left leg. It was really heart-breaking to see someone so badly crippled right as she was becoming an adult. I wonder what will happen to her." Mashiro said, voicing her own thoughts on the _Malay Flyer_ Incident.

Akeno nodded. "I remember hearing about the, _Malay Flyer_ incident." She said.

Kirkland nodded "I mean, the thing is. I have been considered a damn lucky bastard. But I don't deserve to be called 'lucky' I knew everyone on that Rescue team. Only one other person survived, hell I don't think they even found all bodies. When the _Malay Flyer_ exploded, someone said that secondary explosions chained up and down the ship. Blowing it apart. Probably it's cargo igniting. That's why the two of us that survived have been called lucky." She stated.

"I would bet, you're more lucky than probably everyone onboard the _Tokoro_. Possibly even me." Akeno said, looking at Kirkland, who for her part gave everyone a look that basically said she didn't want this conversation to continue.

The _Tokoro_ sailing with the other ships in the fleet moved swiftly. They were rapidly approaching the contact point. About two hours later, Kirkland looked at her watch. "Captain, it's time to have all stations manned. We will likely be locked in combat in about two and half hours, best to have everyone up and about and ready." She said.

Akeno nodded and she moved toward the ship wide speaking tube. She was just about to speak into it. When various alarms started wailing throughout the fleet. Boys and girls sprinted for their various stations, a thunderous crescendo of people moving, grabbing ammunition, scrambling into turrets, etc. was incredible to hear. Smiling, Kirkland moved to a small lever and flipped it.

A thunderous whooping noise tore through the air, scaring the hell out of everyone on the bridge. Save Kirkland who simply smiled as the ringing whooping of the old Star Brass Steam Siren tore through the air. After getting after her initial shock and hearing a gap in the whooping. Akeno then barked sharply "All hands to your stations!" That made the crew realize what they needed to do, the distinctive sound of a trumpet horribly off-key began dueling with the thunderous whooping of the Star Brass Steam Siren, the crew of the _Tokoro_ raced to their stations, hatches were slammed shut as full watertight integrity was set throughout the ship.

Two minutes thirty seconds later Koku looked up from her iPad. "All stations are manned and ready for action, Captain. Although I have to say, who the heck put _that_ powerful siren on the _Tokoro_ , I bet half the fleet heard that thing go off." She said as she adjusted her helmet.

"That was me, I noticed that the _Tokoro_ didn't have a General Quarters alarm, so I had someone put a Star Brass Steam Siren on her, for that to act as her General Quarters alarm. The rest is history." Kirkland said with a smirk on her face.

Rin laughed in spite of everything. The fact that _Tokoro_ probably had the loudest sounding General Quarters alarm on board. The fact that they had a bugle dueling with the thing when Action Stations had been called. It was never a dull moment aboard the _Tokoro_ that was for sure.

* * *

 _Two and a half Hours later_

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

" _Captain! Enemy fleet sighted! Bearing 335! Range 18,500 meters and closing! They've seen us and are angling to engage! No sign of the transports!"_ Noma's voice said over the speaking tube as she made out the distinctive shapes of the enemy ships shouldering toward them. Strangely however, there turrets didn't slew over toward the fleet, the guns ready to hurl shells downrange.

"That's weird, why are their gun's not swinging out? You seeing this Mei?" Akeno asked as she stepped onto the bridge wing facing the enemy fleet and pulling a pair of binoculars to her face and staring through them, looking at the enemy fleet.

"Yeah, I am. I have no clue what's going on though. It's bizarre as all get out. I don't understand." Mei replied.

Suddenly the turrets and gun directors and range finders on the entirety of the enemy fleet swung out simultaneously, and then vomited fire and smoke as they hurled projectiles toward them. "HOLY!" Tama cried as the canvas tearing shriek that ripped the air apart as the shells hurtled in. Intending to bury themselves into the armor and various other parts of the ship and explode.

"RETURN FIRE! RETURN FIRE!" Akeno bellowed as loudly as she could simply to be heard over the incredible sound of all the shells that was screaming toward them.

The turrets on the _Tokoro_ ground to life, swung out and fired. Eight shells screamed down range. The battle was on as salvos tore through the air from both sides. However it very quickly started going wrong.

Thirty-five minutes into the action, the enemy scored first blood, a thunderous explosion rocked the formation. Suddenly a friendly destroyer went wheeling out of the formation aft. It's hull number identified it as the _Ingraham_. The destroyer had been brutalized, it's Pilothouse was basically _gone_ , the number one, two, and three guns had been trashed as well, funnels one, two, and three had been ripped right off the ship, plus fire was rapidly taking hold on the ship. It was obvious that if anyone had been on deck and in the forward part of the ship, if they were still alive it was a miracle. Still she was out of the fight. Akeno felt a pang grief in her chest when she saw caught a glimpse of the brutalized destroyer, and knew that it was unlikely that her friend Luciana Davenport had survived.

The hours wound on as the two fleets continued to blast away at each other. Then _Texas_ and _Prince of Wales_ fired at the two Battlecruisers, moments later they fired one fired at _Marblehead_ and the other fired at _Houston_. Moments later the enemy battleship hurled lead at the _Texas_. Shells flew through the air, enormous towering splashes erupted around both Battlecruisers, the one that _Prince of Wales_ fired at got clobbered it took a direct hit to the bridge, a ball of fire consuming it, three more cleaved through its upper belt, flames and soot erupted from the funnel, and another round cleaved right into its deck and plunged deep within the ship before exploding. The ship slowed almost instantly to a standstill, it's boiler room and engine room having been thoroughly decimated.

The one that the _Texas_ fired upon took numerous hits, as they watched their was the distinctive motion of the ship's bottom blowing out, seconds later the whole thing was blown apart as both turret A and Turret X detonated and were hurled out of their barbettes, the gun houses went soaring into the air, flipping end over end, the ship seemingly disintegrated as it had _two_ main battery magazines explode, as it did so even more explosions raced up and down the length of the ship as ready lockers exploded outward like fiery volcanos, tearing the ship apart violently.

" _Captain! Report from both the_ Prince of Wales _and the_ Texas _. Message from_ Prince of Wales _reads "One Battlecruiser crippled! Focusing fire on it to sink it!" while the message from the_ Texas _, reads "Hell yeah! That's what you get for putting Battlecruiser in the main line of battle! Take that bitches, never_ ever _mess with_ Texas _, because if you do, you are going to get the horns!" It appears we are winning!"_ Tsugumi replied, sounding excited.

Of course just a few seconds later, everything went to hell. Eight shells from the battlecruiser that _Texas_ had quite literally blown to pieces, arrived at it's target: USS _Houston_ CA-30, shells tore into its armor. Detonating internally, ripping the Heavy Cruiser apart as two rounds smashed through its belt and exploded internally, a shell ripped through it's bow, over penetrating the Heavy Cruiser and hurtling onward for several hundred meters afterward, tearing into the water and exploding, lastly one shell cleaved right through the face of turret three and detonated. An explosion convulsed the turret, the entirety of the roof of the turret exploded off, amid an enormous column of fire and smoke, the central gunbarrel snapped, while the mechanisms to elevate the barrels was decimated, the furthest barrel from the _Tokoro_ in that turret went to maximum elevation while the closest was physically hurled out of it's mounting.

Then, eight shells arrived from the Battlecruiser that got absolutely spanked by _Prince of Wales_ arrived at it's target. The USS _Marblehead_ CL-12, the armor of the Light Cruiser stood no chance against the thundering rage of 16in shells. Several hit the ship, one plowed through the deck just forward of the number one gun and overpenetrated, detonating as it exited the hull of the light cruiser, the blast tore a sizeable hole in the side of ship, and rent the decking on the bow upward, another shell slammed into an area that knocked out both forward barbette mounts on one side, twisting them beyond all recognition, then the shell exploded inside the ship and it shuddered visibly from the force of the blast. Two more rounds plunged into the water next to the hull where they promptly exploded, dealing severe damage to the ship. Two more shells crashed into the ship aft, one with just its sheer mass turned the aft twin mount into unrecognizable scrap, the other plunged into the water right next to the stern, and detonated under the rudder, while the force of the blast didn't blow the thing off, it _did_ jam the rudder, the _Marblehead_ which had been in the process of doing a hard turn to port, to avoid ramming the _Houston_ which was slowing due to the fact that steam lines had been damaged for one of her turbines and thus it wasn't getting enough power to turn the shaft. The ship went circling out of the formation as her damcon teams worked frantically to get the fires that had broken out under control and her engineers worked feverishly to get the rudder unjammed.

Then the thundering salvo from the enemy flagship hit the _Texas_. The damage was catastrophic to the old Dreadnought, with eight shells out of twelve impaling her. One shell plunged into the belt near the casemate guns and exploded, flames and smoke erupted from the ports where the 5in guns were mounted, knocking them out. Another round crashed into her forward superstructure, easily penetrating and then exploding dealing major damage to the ship, two rounds crashed into the armor near turret III, one plunged through the deck and then through the Barbette and the other cleaved through the armor for the gun house of said turret, the resulting detonation that ensued by some miracle _didn't_ crack the battleship in half but the damage that resulted was still _enormous_ , the entirety of the mount exploded outward like a fiery volcano, steel went flying in all directions as the turret ceased to exist, one the gun barrels which weighed in at over 10,000 pounds was hurled sixty feet into the air, flames roared upward from the position were the mount had been. The sheer force from turret III exploding caused the aft mast to topple forward, its remains came to rest across the deck and in the hole where turret III _used_ to be. The shock damage from that explosion screwed over almost every single item on the Battleship, from the radar down to the galley sink suffered damage. Another shell plowed into the deck armor and partially penetrated the barbette for turret IV where it exploded, jamming the turret in place and rendering it unable to fire. Another shell plowed deep into the Super Dreadnought and found a boiler room where it exploded, instantly decimating the space and knocking out the two boilers that were in the space. Finally the last shell to slam into the _Texas_ , hit the ship amidships at the waterline and was stopped cold by 12 inches of armor, but it still left a sizeable dent in the belt. The dreadnought, slowed down instantly and began to turn away from the action, considering the damage she just took, it didn't take a genius to understand why.

Just like that, most of the combat firepower that the Allied Fleet possessed had been clobbered violently. Easily taken apart by shells, the only ship that was unscathed from the brutal beatdown put on the Capital Ships was the _Prince of Wales_. Whose Naval Rifles promptly voiced their anger at what had just occurred, 15in/45 Caliber shells arched through the air and put the remaining enemy battlecruiser down. With seven shells punching through it's armor and brutally decimating the warship, which promptly began to roll onto it's side as the hull simply couldn't take the battering that had been laid onto it. Still it was not good, _Marblehead_ was combat-ineffective, _Houston_ had lost a third of Main Battery, and _Texas_ , poor fucking _Texas_ was a write-off at best and at worst she would possibly sink from the damage caused by the devastating salvo that the enemy Flagship had just laid onto it.

Akeno looked at her watch, they were three and half hours into the action and it looked like they were winning and then they saw and heard from Tsugumi and Noma what had just befallen their Capitals. Damnit this was bad. Suddenly a muffled _boom_ resounded forward, not on the _Tokoro_ , but further forward, probably in the van of the line ahead formation.

" _Captain! Report from the_ Waterhen _, the_ McKee _is gone! She just stomped by one of the_ Zao _class Heavy Cruisers and had a magazine explode. This is getting worse by the second!"_ Tsugumi reported from the radio room.

"Understood! Keep me posted!" Akeno shouted into the speaking tube to be heard over the constant thunder that was the discharges of Naval Rifles.

" _Right!"_ Tsugumi replied.

Suddenly with a terrific _bang_ and the Light Cruiser heaved in sickening way as something impaled her. Everyone staggered as _Tokoro_ shuddered as something maybe several somethings detonated inside of the hull. They had just been hit, and pretty badly as well, judging by how the ship reacted to those impacts.

"Report!" Akeno yelled, just to be heard over the tumult that was all around them.

" _Captain! The Searchlight platform is history! I watched a shell just demolish it. I think we had two more shells hit us in the side, they probably penetrated and exploded. The funnel also has two new holes in it."_ Mashiro said, sounding rattled.

"Thanks Shiro-chan!" Akeno replied into the speaking tube for the Auxiliary Conn.

She then looked at Koku who after few moments looked at her with a reassuring smile, even though it was clear she was scared out of her mind like everyone else. "No flooding, but we do have internal damage. From the looks of it, the onboard classroom has been completely trashed." She said with a sigh.

" _Captain! Order from the_ Prince of Wales _, destroyers are to lay a smoke screen and cover our retreat. Light Cruiser_ Tokoro _is to pick up survivors from the_ McKee _. The_ Pope _is to rescue survivors from the_ Ingraham _, after all survivors from those ships have been rescued, follow the main force back to Surabaya. We have no choice but to retire. We are suffering damage to our own forces that is unacceptable and thus need to retreat."_ Tsugumi said in a heavy voice.

"Understood, thank you Tsugumi." Akeno said, before turning to Kirkland.

"Get the cargo nets over the side and have a party formed to make ready to take on survivors." Akeno said.

"Yes ma'am!" Kirkland replied before spinning on her heel and leaving the bridge. Quickly assembling a party to get the survivors from the _McKee_ onboard.

With that done, Akeno looked at her watch and was stunned to see that an additional hour and a half had passed since the last time she had looked at it. She quickly went to the speaking tube for the radio room.

"Tsugumi, what's the status of the _Marblehead_? Have they gotten things under control?" She asked briskly.

" _Give me a moment Captain!"_ Tsugumi replied, a few minutes past before she spoke again. " _Yes Captain. It seems that the_ Marblehead _has the situation onboard under control. They have managed to get their rudder released to 9 degrees to Port plus they got the fires put out as well and they are now retiring for Cilacap. They got their flooding under control, but they haven't been able to pump it out. As for steering they are using their engines. Out of sixty onboard, they got five dead, seven who are severely wounded, forty seriously injured as well, and almost everyone else onboard has some sort of slight injury as well."_ She said.

 _Thank God! I am amazed that those hits didn't incapacitate half the crew._ Akeno thought. "Thanks for the update on the _Marblehead_." She said.

" _No Problem Captain!"_ Tsugumi replied.

* * *

The battle that would become known as the Battle off Celebes was a disaster for the Malay Barrier Defense Command and a stunning victory for the Kraken Fleet. With two Destroyers sunk, the rest of the Allied Fleet damaged, _Marblehead_ being effectively rendered combat-ineffective and being forced to go to Clicajap for major repairs. With the _Houston_ losing a _third_ of her combat capability with Turret III being blown apart, plus the nasty internal damage she suffered, the Heavy Cruiser was also going to Clicajap for repairs.

Then poor fucking _Texas_ and battering that she suffered, not to mention casualties that she suffered onboard were some of the worst in the entire Allied Fleet, with a little over half of her crew of seventy was killed and almost everyone else wounded to some measure, combined with the absolutely brutal pasting that she suffered. It was a miracle that the old Dreadnought hadn't folded up and sank the instant her number three turret had exploded, as it stood the internal damage that she suffered was absolutely insane. Due to the damage that she had suffered, she was going to be sent Fremantle Australia after some repairs were completed in Surabaya. Still, it was likely that the _Texas_ was going to be written off, the damage she had sustained was simply _that_ bad.

To make matters worse there were about sixty survivors from the _McKee_ , but anyone who was in the boiler rooms or the pilot house or manning the number two and three guns or in the galley hadn't made it. Those who did survive had a wide variety of injuries from literally bumps and bruises to in one case, two broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and a collapsed lung. It was a little better for _Ingraham_ , but anyone who had been in the pilot house, guns one, two, and three, or in the galley had been killed from the brutal battering that the Destroyer had suffered.

However, they had given the enemy a hard whack in return. Sinking both Battlecruisers and landing hits on probably every single ship in the enemy formation. The sad thing was though, the losses that had been suffered to inflict those losses, were way higher than what the Malay Barrier Defense Command could hope to handle over long periods of time. Still, the damage sustained, it couldn't hope to be maintained. Plain and simple.

Headmaster Doorman blamed himself for the result of the battle as he had been commanding the Allied Fleet from the _Prince of Wales_. He lamented that if he had turned his fleet and had them charge head-on toward the enemy fleet when they had offered to surrender instead of telling them "Nuts!", that the battle likely would have had a much different result. He hated himself for it. Plain and simple, mainly because it was him who had basically told the enemy fleet commander to go to hell, and thus he felt that he was responsible for all of the brave sailors who were killed in the action.

Onboard the _Tokoro_ which was heading back to Surabaya, Akeno found herself wondering if herself and her crew was going to survive. The salvo that had taken apart the _Marblehead_ could have effortlessly demolished the _Tokoro_ into a unrecognizable mess. The fact that they got off as lightly as they did was a miracle in it of itself. It didn't help that someone she had considered a friend, Luciana Davenport had been killed when the _Ingraham_ had been effortlessly demolished by an enemy ship.

"Captain?" A voice said behind her, Akeno turned and saw that Kirkland was behind her.

"Hey Boats, what's up?" Akeno asked dejectedly. She was currently standing near the smashed remains of the searchlight platform. Mashiro had the bridge.

"Nothing much. However, I have to admit. The battle that we went through was disaster though. I mean, poor old _Texas_ got the shit beaten out of her, it's a miracle we didn't lose her. _Houston_ , the poor girl, lost a third of her offensive firepower. Combined with the other damage that she suffered. Then there's _Marblehead_ and the pasting that she suffered at the hands of the enemy. Then of course there's _Ingraham_ and _McKee_ , I mean the results for that battle certainly could have been better. However we certainly hurt them, but I doubt it was enough. I mean, it seems like every single time we tangle with them we have done some damage to them, but they do damage to us as well." Kirkland said.

"But this time the differences in accuracy in our naval gunnery became clear this time around. I mean, it took our fleet the better part of an hour into that artillery exchange to really find the range. Well except for us, I think we managed to get the range within just a few salvos. Of course, if anything we certainly did give them a few good whacks. But, as you can imagine, they hit us back a hell of a lot harder." Akeno said, shaking her head.

"That is correct, Skipper. Even I noticed that as well. But maybe it's going to be our fate to go down swinging against a foe that we can't defeat. But I just don't know." Kirkland said sagely.

"I hope it never comes down to that. Because I don't want to die, well, not yet at least. Not when my whole life is ahead of me. I really don't, but I have to ask Kirk-chan. If I do die out here or if I am somehow incapacitated, can you please find my best friend Moeka China? She's also enrolled in Yokosuka Girls Maritime High School, this year she's the commanding officer of the _Ikoma_ , an _Ikoma_ class Cruiser. I want you to tell her what has happened to me, mainly because you will understand easier how to put it, because well, you're here with us and you will know what will occur a lot better than anyone else." Akeno said.

Kirkland smiled. "Can do Skipper. However if I do, I will most likely do so in a Service Dress Blue Uniform, I hope I never have to do that." She said.

"Thanks Kirk-chan. That takes a lot of my shoulders, I feel better knowing that you will be the one letting Moeka know if anything were to happen to me." Akeno said with a slight smile.

 _But, judging by the nightmare I had recently. Kirk-chan actually_ might _have to tell Moka-chan what happened to me. If what happened in that dream does happen._ Akeno thought grimly.

"That's not a problem Skipper. Alright, it isn't, if anything you can count on me. Particularly if everything goes to hell, if needed I will become that rock everyone needs." Kirkland said.

Akeno nodded and smiled at Kirkland. She was clearly _relieved_ that Kirkland would watch after the crew if everything went horribly, horribly wrong. That was reassuring for Akeno, knowing that someone would help Mashiro look over the crew if something were to happen to her.

* * *

 **AN: Alright! There we go! Another chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic has been concluded. It's beginning to go down hill for our heroes. To make matters worse, if Akeno's nightmare is anything to go off of, a battle in the upcoming future will be clean defeat for the Malay Barrier Defense Command. As it stands, the Battle of the Celebes Sea was a complete and utter disaster for our heroes, however, before you think they can turn it around. Anyone who knows their history with the ABDA Float during World War II, knows what's coming.**

 **Anyway, take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Here we go folks, another chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic, we are rapidly approaching end. This chapter will contain some aftermath from the Battle of the Makassar Strait, plus quite possibly the burger of fail that was the Battle of the Badung Strait. Still, we are rapidly approaching the end of this story and it's** _ **not**_ **going to be pretty.**

 **Anyway, with that out of the way. Let's weigh anchor and set sail into this chapter.**

* * *

 _Surabaya Java_

 _Shortly after the Battle off Celebes_

 _Following Akeno_

Akeno was amazed by the damage that a single 8in High Explosive projectile had done to the classroom onboard the _Tokoro_. The shell had simply torn the space apart with ease. In one sense, Akeno was grateful that the _Tokoro_ had gotten off as lightly as she did in the battle. However she was amazed by the amount of damage that the _Texas_ , _Marblehead_ , and _Houston_ had suffered. While she couldn't board the _Marblehead_ or the _Houston_ because they weren't in Surabaya Java. She could board the shattered mess that was USS _Texas_ BB-35. The aging Dreadnought was over 100 years old, and she had been utterly spanked by an enemy Fast Battleship. Considering that she had suffered a turret exploding, the only thing that had saved the Dreadnought from instantaneous destruction was the safety measures that had been built into her main battery turrets in the late 90s. Even then, it had been a near thing. The fires that had resulted from the Dreadnought's third turret exploding had nearly doomed the ship.

She shook her head, she had read about the damage that the Dreadnought had suffered, but was yet to see it. Though considering the hits that the ship had suffered had killed or wounded nearly everyone on board. It stood to reason that the damage was bad.

Akeno turned to leave the utterly ruined classroom and came face to chest with Kirkland. The big boatswain mate had been standing there for who knew how long. She now swept her gaze over her Captain, it was the sort of gaze that made Akeno realize that Kirkland could tell that something was bothering her.

"Alright Captain, I have to ask. What's got you worried to such a degree that you are about as skittish as a rabbit in rabbit season?" Kirkland asked.

Akeno sighed. "I am really worried about my dream. Considering that Rin dies, Mei and Tama are both injured as is two other members of my crew, as well as myself. I am concerned about will it actually happen? Will my ship actually lose crew members, will I actually die? I am seriously concerned about that." Akeno said grimly.

Kirkland shook her head. "You shouldn't be worried, But after having a dream like that. I wouldn't blame you if you are worried. Will _Tokoro_ suffer casualties during this conflict? To be frank, considering how hard you were hit during Operation: FIRST STRIKE and then when we were hit during the Battle of Makassar Strait. I am not surprised that you are worried. To tell you the truth, if I had a nightmare like that, I would be worried as well. To be frank, it's not really anything that you should be worried about." She said giving Akeno a warm smile.

"Still it doesn't change anything. In that nightmare, Mei was badly injured, I mean she was clutching her hand and had a bloody gash across her thigh and arm. Tama was also hurt, she was clutching her shoulder I think she took a piece of shrapnel to it. Then there was Rin, her skull, towards the back was just unrecognizable, it was a mangled bloody wreck, I mean she _died_ in my nightmare. Then their was that happened to me. I had one piece of shrapnel graze me, it actually took my helmet off, I had another maybe more than one hit me in my Ballistic vest, and I had one maybe two hit me in the side, slicing through the very limited protection that is there and going who knows how deep." Akeno said.

Kirkland shook her head. "Skipper, even if it was just a nightmare. That sounds like something more. However, I am not much of a religious man, so I don't know what to make of that. Superstitious, though? Yeah, I am a superstitious man. The sensible part of me is telling me that your nightmare is nothing to worry about. _But_ the superstitious part of me is raising alarm bells, saying that this nightmare is one hell of a bad omen. To tell you the truth, I don't know which part to believe." She said.

"Wait, you are Superstitious? I had no idea that you were." Akeno said surprised.

Kirkland smiled warmly. "Don't worry Akeno. Most sailors are superstitious by nature. To be frank, I am surprised that you aren't superstitious at all. Hell, like two weeks before the _Malay Flyer_ Incident, the _Durango_ encountered the _Flying Dutchman_. Let me tell you, everyone was nervous as hell after it, mainly because everyone had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. Which something bad did happen. The _Malay Flyer_ Incident." She said looking at Akeno.

"You've seen the _Flying Dutchman_?!" Akeno said stunned. Even when she had been growing up, hearing stories about the _Flying Dutchman_ and how it always thought to be a omen of bad luck. However I never believed those stories, not until now at least." Akeno said, admitting that she had never been superstitious in the first place.

"Yes, I have seen the _Flying Dutchman_. The legend about that ship, is that way back during the age of sail. The Captain of a schooner named the _Flying Dutchman_ made a deal with the devil in order for his ship to safely transit around the Cape of Good Hope; however he never said how many times. Thus dooming his ship and crew to sail the oceans for all eternity. It's said that the _Flying Dutchman_ is captained by a God of the sea: Davy Jones, sort of like the devil for sailors. Not a lot of people believe it actually, even among sailors it's rare for one to believe that. However all sailors do agree that the seeing the _Flying Dutchman_ is a bad omen." Kirkland said nonchalantly.

That revelation made Akeno realize that Kirkland had been through a lot more than she likely ever would go through in her life. That thought made her realize that having someone like Kirkland onboard the _Tokoro_ was extremely helpful. Not only did she represent a pillar of moral authority but she also carried a tremendous amount of respect and strength both of the physical and metaphorical kind. If anything, the crew of the _Tokoro_ had always been a tightknit crew, but if anything the crew had become even _more_ tightknit ever since Kirkland had joined the crew. Everyone respected her and saw that whenever she wasn't making sure that the deck and exterior paint scheme wasn't in tiptop shape, she was solving problems with the rest of the crew.

It made Akeno realize that perhaps a more widespread exchange program was required with the Americans. They certainly knew how to handle themselves, on and off the battlefield. Plus they were all striving to join the United States Navy, a force that even the Blue Mermaids both respected and to a degree feared. But besides that point, no one onboard the _Tokoro_ had actually ever seen a United States Warship. Akeno had a feeling that if they ever saw one. It would likely have this aura of awe around it. The sign of a warship that could kick _everyone's_ ass within a certain radius of it and walk out of a fight like that without a mark on it.

* * *

 _Surabaya Java_

Meanwhile elsewhere in Surabaya Java. Admirals Riggs, Hart, and Doorman were having a conversation. One that spoke volumes about the situation they were in. "Disaster! Complete and utter disaster, I never thought that we would have to stomach a defeat like that. Particularly one with such a high death toll, particularly for us. I mean, losing half the crew on the _Texas_. That is bloody shit!" Admiral Hart snapped angrily.

"Tell me about it! I hate myself, I got so many young men and women killed within the span of one day. Not to mention we failed to stop the invasion! This is bad! I wish that the United States could get the _Enterprise_ Strike Group down here faster. It would do wonders for us to be able to fight. I mean this is starting to blow hard core." Doorman seethed. The dutchman blamed himself for the failure that had been Operation: Pendragon, which had resulted in the Battle of the Makassar Strait. A pure disaster in terms of how badly they had been mauled.

"Plus it gets worse! _Marblehead_ 's steering engine was pretty much wrecked during the battle. She can only steer using her regular engines, plus when she made port she was drawing quite a bit more water than normal. They couldn't put her into drydock. Best they can do is just repair the leaks and the top side damage. So that means for Light Cruisers we are down to _De Ruyter_ , _Java_ , _Tromp_ , _Perth_ , and _Dauntless_. Out of those ships, _De Ruyter_ and _Perth_ are the newest, but the others are very old and outdated in terms of design." Hart said sighing.

"Is there any good news at all?!" Doorman asked praying that there was.

"Yes, their is some good news. Repairs on the _Dorsetshire_ will be complete within three and half weeks. So, we should have her back in action soon. Also repairs to the _Houston_ have been completed, she should be back here within two weeks. Sadly her Number III Turret was thoroughly wrecked by that shell. From what I heard from her Captain. Several crew members nearly lost their lunches and a few _did_ lose their lunches when they went to remove the dead from that turret. Mainly because they were just roasted, charred beyond all recognition, frozen in whatever position they had been when that fireball hit them. Of course two did have nasty wounds from the shrapnel that had accompanied that fireball." Riggs said gruffly.

"Well, at least we will soon have two Heavy Cruisers back on the roster. That is some good news. Which means our firepower is going to be bolstered. However _Sydney_ won't be returning to the roster for the better part of a month maybe longer, when she stripped that turbine. The blades that came loose tore the hell out of central shaft and reduction gears. As such, besides having to replace the turbine, they also need to replace reduction gears and give the propeller shaft and complete check. Not to mention they checked the other turbines and found metal fatigue in several blades and the central shaft of the number two and four turbines, thus they are replacing those turbines as well as turbine one. We won't have that Heavy Cruiser back for a long time." Hart said sourly, it was clear he was displeased at the fact that HMAS _Sydney_ had really screwed herself over with turbine damage." Hart said shaking his head.

"That is damn good news about the _Dorsetshire_! How that does suck about the _Sydney_ , _Houston_ , and _Marblehead_ , granted we still have the _Houston_ at our disposal, but we won't have the _Sydney_ or the _Marblehead_ back in action, that just blows. Anything else?" Doorman asked perking up to a degree.

"Yes Admiral. There is something else. I have ordered USS _Texas_ BB-35, to sail with HMAS _Waterhen_ and HMAS _Vendetta_ to Perth-Fremantle Australia. Mainly because with the utter spanking that _Texas_ took, she needs an escort to protect her on the way down. I am not going to risk sending that old battered Dreadnought through what is likely Submarine infested waters alone. So yeah, there's that. Granted it's a miracle that she didn't sink in the first place." Riggs said in a thick and heavy voice, mainly because what he said was true. The Super Dreadnought USS _Texas_ BB-35 had been utterly FUBARed by that salvo she took during Makassar Strait. So it was obvious why the Dreadnought was being sent to Australia. She only had three sets of working rifles, two forward and one aft.

Admiral Doorman sighed. "I understand that. I have seen the damage that the Big T took personally. Hell I _saw it_ happen. So, I am not arguing with you on that. Still, this means that all we have left for Heavy Capital ships is HMS _Prince of Wales_ and HMS _Exeter_ for heavies that are at full combat potential. For Light Cruisers we got _Java_ , _De Ruyter_ , _Tromp_ , _Tokoro_ , and _Perth_. For destroyers, we got _Voyager_ , most of Destroyer Squadron 29, but they are down two destroyers the _McKee_ and _Ingraham_ , for the British we got _Electra_ , _Encounter_ , and _Jupiter_ , and lastly all of our Dutch Destroyers are good. But, we also got about thirty PT Boats as well, they might be pretty useless overall in a surface engagement, because well one hit from even a 3in gun and they will be turned into splinters. The trick is hitting the little bastards though, they are stupid fast, to the point that only a _Mogador_ could probably catch one if they push their boilers hard enough. We could use that to our advantage here." He said.

"I completely agree sir. It's our best hope, hitting these bastards with hit and run attacks. But, I hope we have the time to even _organize_ where we are going to hit these bastards, with what forces, and how hard. Plus what our schedule is going to be for it." Riggs added in.

Suddenly the door burst open and a aid dashed in, handed Admiral Doorman a piece of paper and whispered something in his ear. She then saluted and jogged out of the room. "Gentlemen, there's been a major development. According to this latest development. The Island of Sumatra has fallen, the bastards hit it with multiple landings. The stage has been set for these bastards to hit Java next. If they gain a foothold on this island, we are so utterly FUBARed that it isn't even funny. Something tells me that we are rapidly approaching the final battle of this struggle. When that final action comes, we will throw all available ships at it." Doorman said gruffly.

"Shit, this isn't good, hopefully the forces when that battle comes will be fair and even. Still we have to prepare the best that we can." Riggs said and Hart nodded.

The three Admirals realized that despite the hell that submarines were raising, striking targets that were flying the flag of the enemy. They simply weren't doing enough damage to the enemy. The enemy fleet seemed limitless, there fleet certainly _wasn't_ limitless. As it stood, all they had to throw at the enemy was a single Fast Battleship, two Heavy Cruisers, five Light Cruisers, twenty-seven Destroyers, and thirty odd PT Boats. _That_ wasn't a real heavy duty force, particularly considering how _old_ and _outdated_ the some of the ships that they had. It really didn't make for a good combination.

But, the ships that _were_ left. There crews were damn determined to give it their all in every battle.

* * *

 _Onboard HMS_ Prince of Wales

 _Sophie Saunders commanding_

 _Following Captain Sophie Saunders_

Sophie Saunders commanding officer of the HMS _Prince of Wales_ , a proud _King George V_ class Fast Battleship. She loved the Fast Battleship, she smiled at the simpler times before this happened. The past three months had been very trying on her. It had been for everyone really. Watching friends and acquaintances get killed, their ships sunk, etc. However, ever since the Battle of Makassar Strait, _Prince of Wales_ simply felt _different._

As if the Fast Battleship's very personality had changed somehow. Sophie couldn't put her finger on it. But she was _very_ superstitious, she could just _tell_ that HMS _Prince of Wales_ just ship she had been a few months ago. Maybe because it was her ten 15in/45 Caliber Mark II Breech Loading Guns in two Quadruple Turrets and one twin turret had drawn blood and taken lives? Maybe it was because the guns that _Prince of Wales_ had, had fired in anger for the first time since the _1940s_? Sophie simply didn't know, but what she _did_ know, was that her ship wasn't the same in spirit.

However, her heart also ached over the death of her boyfriend. Roy Fisher, commander of HMS _Repulse_ , who with the rest of his crew had died a hero. Stopping a warship that would have utterly destroyed every single ship in Task Force: FIRST STRIKE easily. It still didn't soften the blow of losing him. She sighed as she went to talk to her crew.

* * *

 _Onboard USS_ Walker _DD-163_

 _Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Reddy commanding_

 _Following Brad "Spanky" McFarlane_

Spanky tapped the pressure gauge for boiler number four, frowned and the grunted. Boiler four onboard the aging destroyer was the most cantankerous out of all boilers that the destroyer had. He had been hoping to be able get some yard time, so that way his beloved engines could get some desperately needed heavy duty maintenance. But now that plan was in crapper, no doubt about it. Which meant he now had to deal with what he had.

He wasn't to pleased about the condition of the firebrick in Boilers one and two. Near misses from enemy shells had shook quite a bit loose. Thus, he had just finished a tear down of firebrick of boilers one and two and rebricking them. That had not been fun to do. But, it was a job that was required. Still, he _knew_ that his old girl was changing. Her personality was become more determined, she was becoming fighter, as the chief engineer, he could _feel_ it.

 _Walker, might have changed. But she's still the same old ship. She knows what is at stake and will be_ dammed _if we don't try our damndest to try and win._ Spanky thought, he was certainly a superstitious man when it came to his ship, then again, most Chief Engineers on ships _were_ pretty damn superstitious. Still, he knew that _Walker_ was unique. Then again, so did the Captain.

Shaking his head, he put aside a dirty rag, cycled through the airlock and went topside.

* * *

 _Onboard_ Tokoro

 _Akeno Misaki Commanding_

 _Following Maron_

Maron-chan as she was called was the chief engineer of the _Tokoro_. However, she was somewhat superstitious when it came to talking about ships. She was dead certain that the _Tokoro_ was different, somehow, than the _Harekaze_ had been. She didn't know how she knew that fact, but she did.

She shook her head as she looked around at how the interior of main control area for the two boiler rooms had changed. Before this whole thing had started, the floors in here were Linoleum and their was a little bit of wood paneling on the walls. All of that was gone now. The floors were now hot metal on most days, the paneling was bare metal as well. It made it unbearably hot in the space on some days, but, it also made the ship feel different somehow.

Like a proper warrior if that made any sense.

Still, Maron missed the way _Tokoro_ looked before this mess had started. She felt more homely and less imposing. Still, the fire risks that those things had posed were pretty great. One penetrating hit set that stuff on fire, well the fumes and smoke would likely severely incapacitate them before they could get Damage Control down to the space to get it under control.

However _Tokoro_ had certainly changed from when she had first boarded the Light Cruiser. She had certainly come a long way, Still as it stood, Maron was worried. She had heard about the Captain's nightmare, in that nightmare, the _Tokoro_ took a nasty pounding, plus two of her department's crew members were badly injured, and worse of all, one crew member on the bridge was killed, two seriously injured, and one was injured. It made her seriously worry about everything that was yet to happen.

"I seriously wish for simpler times. I wouldn't have minded having a few more crew members just to be on a Heavy Cruiser or something. Something with armor that won't crumple like tin foil under the hammering force of even just a 6in AP shell hitting us." Ise Sakura said shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it Ise. Our Captain knows her limits and she knows our limits as well. Unless we are in some real serious trouble. I doubt that we will ever be forced to be pushed past our limits. We got nothing to worry about there." Maron said without worry.

"Do we? I mean, the Battle of Makassar Strait was a complete disaster for us. Plain and simple. I mean, considering the damage that our forces took in that battle, it was incredibly high for such an operation, plus we didn't even find the enemy transports." Ise said shaking her head.

"Ise, listen as you know. Besides our ship, the _Prince of Wales_ , _Exeter_ , _Houston_ , _Dauntless_ , _Perth_ , _Java_ , _De Ruyter_ , _Tromp_ , the Destroyers of the American Destroyer Squadron 29, the Destroyers of the Australian Scrap Iron Flotilla, _Electra_ , _Encounter_ , _Jupiter_ , seven out of the eight destroyers in the _Admiralen_ class Destroyer, a single patrol yacht, several gunboats, a couple of minesweepers, auxiliary ships in the form of tankers, supply ships, airship tenders, etc, and about thirty PT Boats are all that stands between the Kraken Fleet and completely dominating the Malay Barrier. We are bound to have setbacks, but we can still probably win this. Or at least hold them off long enough for the _Enterprise_ task force arrives. Plus, I am certain that the Captain won't push us too hard." Maron said.

"I guess you are right Maron. Probably worrying too much here." Ise said shaking her head.

* * *

The next two weeks passed rather quickly, giving the ships and sailors of the Malay Barrier Defense Command a much needed rest. However it wasn't going to last forever. But during that time, the USS _Houston_ returned, still bearing battle damage from the Battle of the Makassar Strait. Mainly in the form of the third turret still being an utterly mangled wreck. The devastation that had been brought onto the Heavy Cruiser's turret was incredible, particularly since it had been cleaned up to a degree.

But Admiral Doorman then got news that he didn't like nor he did he need to deal with. Considering the fact that the latest intelligence reports, the enemy was gearing up for an offensive against the island of Java. But, the enemy was also sending forces out to capture Bali and Doorman knew that their was an airship landing field on that island.

Doorman looked at his aide. "Send an emergency sortie order out. Right now! All ships that are out on patrols and can reach Badung Strait within four days is to sortie to said strait now at best speed." He barked.

"Yes sir!" The aide said before darting through the doorway and disappearing. After he left Doorman scowled, the position where that enemy invasion force had appeared. It gave him no time to consolidate his forces into a strike group. A move which would give the Malay Barrier Defense Command a badly needed win. To make matters worse his ships were scattered all over the place. Still even if they attacked in separate groups, each group had cruisers, a destroyer's worst nightmare. Which meant that this should be an easy win considering that escorting two of those funky Dock Landing Ships were just four _Le Hardi_ class Destroyers, which while they could easily fight his destroyers, they were no match for Cruisers.

He groaned, this was probably going to end so badly. He had no idea how right he was.

* * *

The first of the three allied groups that engaged the enemy, was composed of the submarines USS _Seawolf_ and HMS _Truant_ , they scored no hits with their torpedoes and were driven off by depth charges.

* * *

 _Onboard the HNLMS_ De Ruyter

 _Ankie Kelder Commanding_

Ankie Kelder, commanding officer of the HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , a unique cruiser. Swore under her breath as she read the emergency mission dispatch, this was bad. If the enemy got their hands on the Airship Field on the Island of Bali, they were screwed plain and simple. Mainly because if they had bombers of any description they would be forced into an untenable position, meaning that they would be forced to flee for Australia.

However, as Ankie brushed some of her red hair out of her eyes, she saw that her force easily could win. Her force was composed of her HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , the older HNLMS _Java_ , the Dutch Destroyer HNLMS _Piet Hein_ , and the American Destroyers USS _Pope_ and USS _John D. Ford_. This would be all too easy to win, because two Cruisers and three Destroyers against only four Destroyers? That was pretty damn lopsided for the bad guys.

"Signal the fleet! Course correction, flank speed for Badung Strait. Have Battle Flags raised, let's win one for the good guys!" Ankie barked out.

"Yes ma'am!" The orders were quickly repeated and the force quickly ratched up the speed. Racing for Badung Strait. There was an invasion force that was lightly defended and just begging to be put out of it's misery.

* * *

 _2220 Hours_

 _October 24th_

 _Onboard HNLMS_ De Ruyter

 _Ankie Kelder commanding_

Ankie grimaced as she looked at the menacing forms of the four destroyers that had managed to put themselves between the _De Ruyter_ and her charges and the two Transports. They had spotted them about twenty minutes ago and the range had quickly closed.

Ankie grimaced as she realized that this was probably going to be ugly. Not to mention would likely do so very soon. However, she also knew that within a few minutes HNLMS _De Ruyter_ and HNLMS _Java_ would open fire at the enemy destroyers. The plan that she had come up with was rather neat, _De Ruyter_ and _Java_ would run the strait, firing their guns at the enemy destroyers all the way. Once they were clear of strait, the small boys would make a run with their torpedoes and guns. Then they would follow cruisers and retire to Surabaya.

It was a rather cunning plan, one that would hopefully work. At least Ankie hoped it would. Besides it would give the two other forces that were also making best possible speed for Badung Strait not a lot to shoot at. The plan was going to be very easy to execute and would hopefully go off without a hitch, the keyword being hopefully. The reason for that being that it was night time, stars twinkled in the sky and the moon was a beautiful crescent. Still, the fact that this action was occurring at night, it meant that their were about a million unknown variables that could swing the tide of battle in either direction.

"Ma'am, Gunnery is reporting that we are in range and may commence firing at your discretion." The Bridge talker said.

"Good, signal the _Java_ , commence firing!" Ankie barked.

The turrets on _De Ruyter_ slewed over toward the enemy and fired. The six Mark 9 and lone Mark 10 150mm/50 Caliber guns sang in harmony, hurling shells toward the enemy. Moments later the older Mark 6 15cm/50 Caliber guns on the _Java_ barked out a thundering broadside. Moments later the distinctive crack of 5in/51 Caliber Guns on the _Clemson_ class Destroyers reached their ears, followed shortly afterward by the heavy barks of the 120mm guns on the _Piet Hein_.

Flashes appeared in the dark as the enemy ships returned fire. The harsh report of the 5.1in guns on the enemy ships reaching their ears. Shells screamed toward them, a canvas tearing shriek that sent shivers racing down the spine of several people. Splashes erupted around the _De Ruyter_ and the _Java_ , there was a terrific sounding _bang_ as two shells plowed into the _De Ruyter_ 's waterline belt and bounced off the armor belt. The Cruiser barely shuddered under the impact of the rounds.

The guns on the Cruisers kept up a spirited fire, blazing away at the enemy destroyers which gladly returned the favor. Sadly, due to both sides having to rely on optics and the fact with how late at night it was, the gunnery for both sides was down right horrible. Both sides came close, with the Kraken Fleet destroyers scoring a couple of non-penetrating hits against both the _De Ruyter_ and the _Java_. However neither side scored any damaging hits. Worse for the Malay Barrier Defense Command, the Transport ships were doing a damn good job of staying out of range. Still, the thunder of guns rang through the night as the two allied Cruisers went racing through the channel, blazing away at the destroyers, running the length of the strait, before retiring to the Northeast.

Meanwhile the destroyers closed in for a torpedo attack, with guns blazing. The three old destroyers darted in, exchanging gunfire with the enemy ships. Both sides launched torpedoes at each other and continued blazing away with guns at each other. But not scoring any hits on each other. Then at 22:40 hours it all changed.

Two torpedoes from the Kraken Fleet Destroyer _Doomba_ suddenly slammed into the HNLMS _Piet Hein_ and exploded. Their warheads contained 750 pounds of RDX which detonated, the hammering force caused by the twin explosions were simply too great for the hull of the destroyer to handle. The _Piet Hein_ simply broke apart, sinking almost instantly, the last that anyone saw of the destroyer, her pilothouse was completely awash and rapidly slipping beneath the waves while the stern was high in the air. The sudden destruction of the Dutch Destroyer helped the Kraken Fleet figure out where the enemy ships that were shooting at them where.

They then subjected the two American Destroyers to incredibly accurate gunfire, with each salvo that landed among the two wildly maneuvering destroyers being an extremely tight straddle. This forced both American Destroyers to retire to the Southeast, instead of following the plan which was to follow the two Dutch Cruisers Northeast. Not to mention, it spoiled their torpedo attack, they didn't launch a single torpedo at the enemy.

The first engagement that would later become known as the Battle of Badung Strait was over. During some point, two of the Kraken Fleet Destroyers misidentified each other for enemy ships and commenced firing on each other for several minutes. However neither ship scored any hits on each, but they did figure out that they were shooting at friendlies.

* * *

 _About three hours later_

About three hours later, the third Allied group to engage the enemy, arrived in Badung Strait. This force was composed of the cruiser HNLMS _Tromp_ and the destroyers USS _John D. Edwards_ , USS _Parrott_ , USS _Pillsbury_ , and USS _Stewart_. This force engaged the enemy at will, shells screamed through the air as 5in/51 Caliber Gunfire, 5.1in/45 caliber gunfire, and 5.9in/50 caliber gunfire reverberated through the air. Shells landed among the warships of both sides, throwing towering columns of water up around the warships.

Several of the American Destroyers dashed in to launch torpedoes, leading the charge was the American Destroyer _Stewart_ , the enemy quickly focused fire on destroyer. They only had two destroyers engaging the American Destroyers, but the fire was devastatingly accurate.

* * *

 _Aboard USS_ Stewart _DD-224_

 _Lieutenant Samuel Garth Lamb Commanding_

The _Stewart_ shuddered violently as a salvo of shells came down in a tight bracket around the destroyer. All the while the 5in/51 Caliber Guns on the destroyer that could bare against her tormentors blazed away for all their worth. Not to mention the helmsman was jinking the destroyer around the best that he could to avoid being hit.

However it wasn't enough, with a tremendous crash and a rushing _boom_ a shell hit and blew the high speed launch onboard the American destroyer apart, shrapnel sprayed in every direction and the ship shuddered violently. The helmsman spun the wheel hard to the left, and the next volley of shells churned up the sea where the destroyer would have been in a few moments.

"DOWN!" The Lee Helmsmen yelled and pushed Samuel to the deck as suddenly 37mm cannon fire raked the bridge, shattering the windows, punching holes into the 10 millimeter thick steel that made up the pilothouse, and nearly tearing the captain's chair in two. Samuel grimaced as a round clipped the Lee Helmsman and simply pulverized the entirety of her right arm and sent her spinning to the deck shrieking in agony. Suddenly the cannon fire let up as a shell from the _Stewart_ 's number one gun arched into the rapid fire gun emplacement that was riddling the bridge with fire. Causing the 37mm cannon fire to suddenly stop.

Just as Samuel sprang to his feet, there was another brutal detonation that shook the destroyer violently, this time the whale boat was blown to pieces and part of the davit was twisted off the ship. This was getting worse by the second for the valiant destroyer that was leading the charge.

"Hard to port! Get ready to launch torpedoes!" Samuel barked as he judged that they were close enough to unleash their portside tubes, they would then come around and fire their starboard tubes.

"Hard to port, aye!" The helmsman called as medics appeared and took the Lee Helmsman to the wardroom, to get medical treatment. Not for the first time, Samuel found himself cursing the fact that the Asiatic Fleet hadn't gotten that promised upgrade flotilla of new _Nicholas_ class Destroyers before this mess had started, mainly because, while they weren't _Farragut_ class Destroyers, they had a similar crew size to the _Clemson_ class, but they kept the torpedo armament of a _Clemson_ class, had a bit more AA, and the absolutely amazing 5in/38 Caliber Gun for it's main battery, with four of those guns.

Suddenly _Stewart_ shook violently as two 5.1in/50 Caliber High-Explosive Shells slammed into the destroyer, thoroughly gutting the galley of the destroyer. But they were rapidly approaching their launch point. Just as long as they weren't hit in the torpedo tubes they were golden. By some miracle the _Stewart_ did reach that point. "Fire torpedoes!" Samuel bellowed.

Moments later sharp shrieks rent the air as the impulse charges detonated, launching their torpedoes. Six gleaming Mark 15 Torpedoes shot out of their tubes and into the water, before knifing toward the enemy ships. Moments later another detonation rocked the _Stewart_ , as a pair of enemy shells crashed into the just fired portside torpedo tubes, blowing them apart in a large fireball and sending pieces of the two triple torpedo tubes everywhere. The enemy seemed to have focused all of their gunfire on the _Stewart_ , as she was leading the charge. More gunfire screamed in and impacted the Destroyer, two towering splashes erupted next to the destroyer.

Then the speaking tube for the Steering Engine Room squealed sharply and a rather sharp voice came through sounding scared out of her mind, particularly considering the words she spoke. " _Sir, we have a hull breach in the steering room! We are taking on water!"_

"Damage control to the steering engine room! Watertight the ship!" Samuel bellowed into the ship wide speaking tube. The reaction from the crew was textbook, however damage control couldn't stop the flooding, and thus just sealed off the compartment. The American Destroyer turned away, leading the other destroyers away. But not before they fired their remaining torpedoes, as they retreated, enemy gunfire slackened up on them considerably, because the enemy ships had selected a new target.

* * *

A relentless torrent of shells began to straddle the cruiser _Tromp_ keeping the ship almost constantly bracketed. The cruiser voiced her displeasure as her guns roared to life. Sending shells screaming back toward the enemy destroyers that were firing on her. However the enemy quickly found the range and started scoring hits. Pounding the Cruiser mercilessly with shells, but _Tromp_ didn't allow this pounding to go on while she could fight back. For her crew also quickly found the range on one of her tormentors and punished the destroyer, slamming at least ten 6in shells into the enemy ship, forcing it to start making smoke and turn away, the aft platform simply awash in flames.

With one enemy destroyer retiring from the battle, having taken incredible damage from the _Tromp_ , the Cruiser shifted her fire to the other destroyer and started to unload shells into the enemy destroyer. However, the Cruiser had taken a hell of hammering from the two enemy destroyers that had focused fire on her, being hit twenty times by 5.1in shells. But the _Tromp_ wasn't down yet, even as she exchanged gunfire with the enemy destroyer and took even more hits. However the same could be said for the enemy destroyer, it turned away too, making smoke as a fire brewed up around the torpedo tubes.

Two hours after that though, with the enemy Transports beginning to appear on the horizon, it all went to hell. Two more enemy destroyers appeared and more gunfire was exchanged. The heavily battered Cruiser _Tromp_ was the for the first few minutes, the main target of the enemy, received even more hits from the enemy, causing even more damage and this time knocking out her number two gun mount, blowing the completely autonomous turret apart with a thundering roar, a large fireball, and shrapnel flying in every direction.

However the gunfire from the Malay Barrier Defense Command ships was also accurate, slamming an enemy destroyer with several 5in/51 Caliber and 6in/50 caliber shells. Fire quickly took hold on the ship forward and the vessel lost speed out of the fight. However, with both sides running low on ammunition, the _Tromp_ and her destroyers turned away. Not to mention, with the amount of damage several ships had suffered made it clear who was the clear victor.

* * *

The Battle of Badung Strait as it became known as was a complete and utter disaster. With one Destroyer sunk, another heavily damaged, plus the Cruiser _Tromp_ having the shit beaten out of it. In exchange, all that they managed to do was severely damage two enemy destroyers and crippling another. They didn't even get to put a single shot into the enemy transports. Which meant the enemy landing went unopposed, the militiamen on the island of Bali surrendered without firing a single shot at the enemy. Which meant that the Malay Barrier Defense Command was now in a untenable position, considering that an airship field within striking distance of Surabaya Java was now in enemy hands.

However, with the _Tromp_ as heavily damaged as she was, Admiral Doorman ordered the Dutch Light Cruiser, to sail in company with the American Destroyers _Barker_ , _Bulmer_ , _Whippie_ , and _Pillsbury_ to head for Fremantle Australia, to safety and for repairs. The commanding officers of the four destroyers tried to argue, but Admiral Doorman was adamant about it. So begrudgingly, the destroyers sailed with the Dutch Light Cruiser for the Land Down Under.

But realizing that Java was next on the menu. Admiral Doorman complied what forces that remained, which sadly wasn't much, his forces had been severely scattered and he sent orders out stating that if they couldn't be at Surabaya Java within one week, they were to head for Australia. For the final battle was upon them. HMS _Prince of Wales_ , HMS _Exeter_ , USS _Houston_ , HMAS _Perth_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HNLMS _Java_ , HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , _Tokoro_ , HNLMS _Kortenaer_ , HNLMS _Witte de With_ , USS _Alden_ , USS _John D. Ford_ , USS _Paul Jones_ , USS _John D. Edwards_ , USS _Walker_ , USS _Mahan_ , USS _Pope_ , USS _Peary_ , HMS _Electra_ , HMS _Encounter_ , HMS _Jupiter_ , and HMAS _Voyager_. Only one Fast Battleship, two Heavy Cruisers, five Light Cruisers, and fourteen destroyers that was all that was left, with HNLMS _De Ruyter_ serving as the force flag. USS _Cole_ however was ordered to Clicajap to cover the _Marblehead_ and _Dorsetshire_ when they made their sprint for safety.

As if that wasn't enough, Admiral Doorman decided that he would again command the battle, from the _De Ruyter_. Which rose some eyebrows, Admirals Hart and Riggs tried to convince Doorman to make the _Prince of Wales_ , but the Dutchman was decided on the _De Ruyter_. His reasoning being that she was the best _Dutch_ ship that they had, not to mention, he had said "If this is going to be the final battle, then I want to command it from the Flag Bridge of a Dutch High School Ship and not a British one."

Still, the intelligence that they received on enemy force composition. One _Alsace_ class Fast Battleship, two _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers, one _Giussano_ class Light Cruiser, three _Chapayev_ class Light Cruisers, three _Mogador_ class Large Destroyers, twelve _Le Hardi_ class Destroyers, and ten Dock Landing Ships.

All in all, the forces were just about equal in terms of strength. Which meant, that hopefully the battle to follow, it would be capable for them to win. Regardless, there was a tough fight ahead of them, but if they could win this battle, it would most likely stop the momentum that the enemy had dead in it's tracks, allowing them to regain the advantage.

* * *

 **AN: Another chapter of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic is done! In case you are not up to snuff on 1942 Malay Barrier Campaign History, the Battle of Java Sea was a** _ **decisive**_ **victory for the Japanese, where they utterly crushed the fighting power of the ABDA Float, sadly, this Battle of the Java Sea that is to follow, it will be the exact same thing, Multiple warships on the side of the Malay Barrier Defense Command will slip beneath the waves.**

 **Anyway, we have arrived at the end of our voyage through this chapter, drop anchor and tie up at the quay, and I'll see you next time.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Not a true chapter in the fact that it advances the story, but it does have various log entries for several captains in the Allied Fleet. It will provide some insight to how they are feeling. Basically it's apart of the story that would be rather nice to see and thus that is what I am going to do.**

 **Anyway, if that set, let's aweigh anchor and set sail into the chapter for our next port of call in the story!**

* * *

 _Captain's log of the Yokosuka Girls Maritime High School Light Cruiser_ TOKORO

 _Akeno Misaki commanding_

The fact that the _Tokoro_ has survived to this point surprises me a lot. However I have to admit, I am really worried for the safety of my crew, not myself, but my crew. I have to say, that my morals have really taken some serious hits during this period. However we are now heading out to meet the enemy one final time. If we prevail, we might buy just enough time for the USS _Enterprise_ to arrive. At least I hope so. We have given up way too much and lost way too many people, good people fighting the Kraken Fleet, I don't want their deaths to in vain.

Signed,

 _Akeno Misaki, Commanding Officer of the Yokosuka Girls Maritime Highschool Ship_ TOKORO.

* * *

 _Captain's Log of the American Junior Naval Academy Destroyer USS_ WALKER _DD Rate 163_

 _Matthew Reddy Commanding_

Thinking about it now. We have fought hard against these Kraken Fleet Bastards, given it our all. However, the enemy outclasses us in every way, from the quality of their ships, to the skills of their crew, to the range of their weaponry, everything. I honestly feel like I am fighting Goliath and I have lost my slingshot, meaning all I can do is just throw spitballs and insults at the bastard and that will just piss him off. But, I guess the big naval battle that we are going to be taking part in soon, will likely be a Alamo style last stand, fighting a force that is superior in just about every way, at least I hope it doesn't end like the way the Alamo did, with very few survivors to tell everyone else about it.

Signed,

 _Matthew Reddy, CO, of the USS_ WALKER _DD-163, attached to the United States Junior Naval Academy Asiatic Flotilla._

* * *

 _Admiral's Log_

 _Admiral Karel Doorman, Overall Commanding Officer of the Malay Barrier Defense Command_

In hindsight, I have realized that I have made several mistakes while commanding the Malay Barrier Defense Command. Communications hasn't been the problem, it's just been that the enemy is _way_ better than us, particularly in how they handle themselves under fire. But we have seen a lot courage under fire from our own side and not so much on the enemy side however. Regardless, as much as I hate to say it, we are losing this struggle. Unless we can pull off the biggest miracle in the history of Naval Warfare and likely the world, we won't survive long enough for the Americans to get here with their Battleship Strike Group. In other words, we are doomed plain and simple. I am just grateful that I have sent home the ships that we have before they had to engage the enemy in what is likely going to be the final battle. One with a pre-determined outcome. I still feel that for the mistakes I have made, I am going to burn in hell, I am almost certain of it.

Signed,

 _Admiral Karel Doorman, CO, Malay Barrier Defense Command._

* * *

 _Personnel Medical Officer's Log_

 _Kaburagi Minami_

 _Chief Medical Officer aboard the Yokosuka Girl Maritime High School Ship_ TOKORO

Really looking at it. I am beginning to believe that we have been blessed by as the superstitious will call it 'luck', but I simply call it the randomness of War and that it simply hasn't touched us yet. However, I fear that while we have for the most part escaped unscathed through the fire and the smoke of our various battles. It is only a matter of time, before the chaos of battle reaches out and touches the Tokoro. I fear that when it occurs, we will likely lose comrades. I don't relish in that thought at all. The skill of our Captain and crew combined with the randomness of war, is why we have gotten through to this point intact. I know one thing is for certain, if I survive this and manage to get back to Japan. Myself along with the rest of the crew are likely going to need a Psychiatric evaluation. War is far too cruel and gruesome for anyone to witness and not be traumatized by it.

Having personally treated wounded from ships that were smacked hard by enemy shellfire, seeing kids around the same age or older than us, laying on my hospital bed, whimpering softly or downright crying or screaming in agony because a piece of shrapnel gouged a gaping wound in them, or they had been seriously burned by flames, or having been scalded by steam, to many other different wounds that are just horrific and makes even Kirkland slightly nauseated. I am really questioning the fact if I am forced to let someone die, because their is nothing that I can do to save them, will I be able to do it? I simply don't know.

Signed,

 _Kaburagi Minami, Chief Medical Officer aboard the Yokosuka Girls Maritime Highschool Ship_ TOKORO.

* * *

 _Captain's log of British Royal Maritime Training Fleet Battleship HMS_ PRINCE OF WALES _Pennant Number 53_

 _Captain Sophie Saunders Commanding._

Thinking about it now, I have realized that, while we can whack the enemy hard. They can just take it on the chin and just throw it right back at us. I mean, while PRINCE OF WALES hasn't really sustained any heavy damage. She has been hit, not as hard as REPULSE was before she was lost. But still very damn hard, several dents adorn her armor belt now. The paint work has been battered and scratched to hell, but it seems that the ship carries them with a sense of pride, a mark of honor that has been earned in battle. A mark of distinction saying she has met the enemy, tanked what shots they landed on her and gave it back in return.

Yet I am incredibly worried, for one big reason. PRINCE OF WALES is the most heavily armoured ship remaining in the entire Malay Barrier Defense Command. Not to mention the most powerful, in any upcoming battles that we fight, she will be the center of attention for the enemy. That part is clear, she has the armor to tank shots from enemy 8in guns directly into her belt and properly angled she can handle the 16in guns of those enemy battlecruisers and with a little luck, some hope, and a prayer tank 20in rounds from enemy Super Fast Battleships. Her armor can also handle the 15in shell fire from enemy fast battleships when properly angled. Plus, her ten 15in/45 caliber BL Mark II guns, will make a meal out of just about anything afloat. She's without a doubt the Flagship of the Malay Barrier Defense Command.

But, whatever we will be fighting in this final battle. I hope to god that we can win, otherwise, they are going to roll right over us. Either that or we are going to be in quite the bind, one I would rather not be in. That is something I am not looking forward too at all. But if that happens, I know I will lead my crew into battle, and met the enemy head-on.

Signed

 _Sophie Saunders, CO of the Royal Maritime Training Fleet Battleship_ HMS PRINCE OF WALES.

* * *

 **AN: There we go, it's not much but I hope it provides some insight into how everyone in the story feels about their current position, I actually had this finished for quite awhile then got side-tracked by an idea I have had in my head and never got around to posting this chapter and I just remembered.**

 **Anyway, take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Howdy folks, it's been quite awhile since I've updated this story. But that's what happens when you're like me and get distracted by shiny things like XCOM fanfics and of course other projects plus school and vacation. So in response to that, here's an extra long chapter in return.**

 **Warning Major Character Death in this chapter as well as graphic depictions of violence.**

 **Another thing is, that while it's implied that there are no aircraft in the Haifuri Universe, I did a bit of digging and found that while the science is there the reason no one has done it is simply because they think of it as a waste of time.**

 **With that out of the way, let's set sail into the chapter!**

* * *

 _Java Sea_

 _0550 Hours_

 _Onboard the_ Tokoro

 _Following Akeno_

Akeno stood nervously on the bridge of the _Tokoro_ as she set sail for what was likely going to be the final battle against the Kraken Fleet. But the reason she was nervous was more than just the pre-battle jitters that she knew everyone got. Her nightmares had been occurring with more frequency and with the same alarming clarity, an enemy light cruiser exploding, _Exeter_ taking one hell of a hit, several destroyers being violently brutalized, _Tokoro_ taking a brutal beating.

But, now that she had the same goddamned nightmare several times, she had noticed something after _Tokoro_ had been hit, after she had fallen to the deck. It sounded like someone or several someones having one hell of a heated arguement. But she couldn't make out the words that much.

Still as she looked at the order of battle for the two opposing fleets, it made her smile knowing that _this_ time, the forces were just about even. They actually had a chance to actually score one for the good guys. Considering that both sides had one battleship, two heavy cruisers, and five light cruisers; but that was were the equal footing ended. The enemy had a clear cut advantage in terms of destroyer leaders having three extremely powerful _Mogador_ class ships, they were basically light cruisers in terms of firepower but were destroyers in terms of speed and to a degree in tonnage. But they held, in theory at least, the advantage in terms of destroyers, having fourteen destroyers to the enemy's twelve destroyers. But the enemy destroyers were bigger, more advanced, had a heavier broadside weight from the main battery, and were faster.

Another key difference was that the enemy had an invasion force with them. _That_ needed to be stopped at all costs. Otherwise they were done for and would be forced to abandon Java and flee to the south, to Australia which had basically become their bolt hole if everything had gone wrong. That was the plan if this battle didn't go exactly how they wanted it to go. Which really was to do as much damage to the enemy fleet as possible, while not taking much damage in return, plus decimating the transport fleet. At least that was the hope.

However Akeno feared or rather somehow knew in her gut, that they were going to lose this battle. If that occurred, then, well; they would be nothing to do but run. "What's got you down Captain?" Mashiro asked.

Akeno jumped, she had heard Mashiro coming onto the bridge but hadn't expected for her to come up next to her to start a conversation. "Just thinking about what could happen in this battle, Shiro-chan. How everything seems to ride on this, the knowledge of knowing that if we lose this battle, God only knows how many people would lose not only Freedom of the Seas, but their Freedom as well and possibly even their lives. But, much more than that, how many lives will be lost, is it possible that friends could die as well." She said grimly, looking at the HMS _Exeter_ that was steaming in front of the _Tokoro_.

The British Heavy Cruiser was one of the few ships that hadn't suffered any form of damage in the past couple of months. Her armor and paint was still pristine as ever, no signs of repairs marred her superstructure or sides. But, ahead of her was the USS _Houston_ and unlike HMS _Exeter_ , she bore the distinctive signs of heavy damage, a main turret blown up, her sides, funnels, and superstructure marred by repair work. Yet the American Warship shouldered her way forward with what could be described as stubborn determination.

Beyond the _Houston_ was the 800 pound gorilla in their fleet. The _King George V_ class Fast Battleship HMS _Prince of Wales_. Her armor showed some signs of damage, mainly in the form of dents of various sizes. But her paint was still kept beautiful, the battleship hadn't suffered a single penetrating hit from enemy fire yet. Ahead of the _Prince of Wales_ was a van composed of seven destroyers. Behind the _Tokoro_ was the HNLMS _De Ruyter_ -the flagship of the fleet- and HNLMS _Java_ ; behind those two was the HMAS _Perth_ and HMS _Dauntless_. Trailing behind the _Dauntless_ was seven more Destroyers.

It was hard to believe that this was that they had left. Had the enemy waited literally four or so more weeks they would have had both the HMAS _Sydney_ and HMS _Dorsetshire_ back in the fleet. But that hadn't happened, obviously. Had the enemy waited just that much longer, they would have a distinctive firepower advantage. But you sometimes had to play the cards that life gave you and hope that they played out in your favor.

"I understand that hell, even I am a little jittery. I think it happens to everyone." Mashiro said, putting a reassuring hand on her Captain's shoulder. Earning a smile from Akeno.

"Well skipper, we all get jitters. But the absolute last thing we need, is for our captain to be doubting yourself. You earned your place in that chair and everyone aboard looks up to you. _Tokoro_ wouldn't be the ship she was, without you in command." Kirkland said, earning a yelp of surprise from _both_ Mashiro and Akeno plus a round of laughter from Rin, Koko, Tama, and Mei.

"How the _hell_ do you do that?!" Mashiro and Akeno hissed in unison, surprise evident in their voices. Which earned a laugh from Kirkland. "What can I say? I am just that good!" She said with a laugh. Which earned more laughter in response, even from Mashiro and Akeno.

That seemed to lighten the mood right up, even the blower no longer seemed strained from stress, but instead seemed to be breathing easier now. The tense mood having vanished in an instant.

* * *

As the day drew longer and first contact with the enemy closed. A strange sound began to fill the air. A deep rumbling like thunder, it was a totally alien sound, one that nobody had heard before. The ships that had radar, found that a group of seventy-five aerial contacts was bearing down on them, at a rate of speed that was _way too fast_ for it to be airships. But they couldn't make heads or tails of the contacts. Mainly because of their speed, the vast majority of the contacts were flying at roughly one-hundred fifty miles per hour but some where flying higher than others at a top speed of well over _two hundred_ miles per hour.

Then they appeared, at first they were just black specks on the horizon but they rapidly approached. These _things_ moved with a speed no-one had ever seen before. But the most alarming aspect, was that there was _two_ different types of the strange craft and the two types clearly were used for different purposes. Yet, what that purpose was, it couldn't be told.

Both types had some things in common, mainly that they used piston engines driving a propeller to propel them through the sky. Another thing they both shared was the fact that they both used radial engines for power judging by the shape, but these engines were way louder. The funky craft also had a large main wing slung underneath the body of craft, with a smaller pair farther back towards the tail. Another thing was that they were flying in groups, but the group shapes were different.

But that was where the similarities ended and the vast differences began. The first type had an ungainly appearance. It had a stubbed nose, wide main wings with rounded tips, and a fat main body. Slung under the main wings appeared to be an undercarriage of some kind. From the looks of it, the thing had a crew of two, with one man probably being the pilot and the other maybe being the radioman? The craft was painted a dark olive green while emblazoned on its main wings and body was what appeared to be a roundel variant of the Kraken Fleet flag. Lastly slung underneath its body was a large menacing black object. The groups that these things were flying in was shaped like a 'V' with three craft per 'V'. There was seventeen of these 'V's meaning that there was fifty-one of the things in the air.

The other craft couldn't be more different even if it tried. It's body was much sleeker and thinner, giving it the impression that it was built for speed and agility. The wings appeared to be slightly longer and had blunted tips. The ungainly fixed undercarriage arrangement that the other craft had was completely missing from this thing, on contrary the underside of this craft wasn't marred by anything. The cockpit was also shaped differently, furthering the impression that it was built for speed. These craft were painted with dark grey and green contrasting paint scheme, but some of them had their noses painted bright yellow, again these craft had emblazoned on their wings but they also had them on their tails. However the shape of the groups for these craft it looked like someone had copied the appearance of a hand that was missing it's thumb, there was only four craft per group. Another thing was that there was six of these 'finger-four' groups meaning that there was twenty-four of these craft.

At least until the craft split up and began to move fast toward some of the ships. Akeno the moment she saw that, figured it out. "STATIONS!" She roared as the first-type of the strange craft came in hard and fast.

Kirkland scrambled to engage the Star Brass Steam Siren, Kaede began playing her trumpet moments after the siren started whooping. Mashiro rocketed off the bridge and began to sprint toward the aft deckhouse. The sound of people running to their combat stations with hatches being slammed shut resounded through the light cruiser's hull. Hats were exchanged for helmets and ballistic vests were donned. "Multiple unknown, presumably airborne hostile contacts approaching on vector 340 and closing awfully fast. Man the AA guns and engage at will!" Akeno shouted as the strange craft nosed over and dove.

Other ships quickly realized they too were under attack and all hell broke loose. With a sharp rattling thumps that started 4in and 3in guns boomed in anger hurling shells into the sky. Black puffs of malevolent smoke erupted in the picturesque blue sky, behind the strange craft as they hurtled in. As they closed more and more sounds joined the fracas, first were deep crashes that happened for short periods followed by a gap then starting right back up again. It was among these weapons that the _Tokoro_ 's own anti-aircraft weapons engaged.

Just before the other sound started up in terms of defense weapons. The TBS crackled and Admiral Doorman's voice came over the radio. " _All ships go evasive! NOW! YOU'RE CLEAR TO MANEUVER! JUST TRY NOT TO HIT ANYONE!"_ He roared.

"Rin! Hard to port! All Ahead full!" Akeno shouted and the young navigator spent no time slamming the Lee helm to all ahead full and throwing the wheel hard over to the left. The proud Light Cruiser easily began to maneuver. Her 25mm AA guns still blazing away at the enemy craft.

That's when something detached from the lead craft that was zeroing in on the _Tokoro_ followed by its fellows. They then pulled up hard and came screaming out of their dives. But the objects that had detached were growing in size at an alarming rate, quickly coming to the size of a baseball, then to a cantaloupe, by the time the things got to be the size of a grapefruit; Akeno and just about everyone else realized that whatever those items were, it couldn't be good. "Rin! Hard to starboard NOW! BACK EMERGENCY!" Akeno shouted as a piercing whistle became audible over noise of the blower and the gunfire and it grew progressively louder and louder.

Rin threw the wheel to the right as quickly as she could, while also grabbing the Lee Helm and slamming it from ahead full to back emergency. The sudden reversal of her turn combined with slowing down is what probably saved the _Tokoro_ from being hit. The three objects plunged into the water and… exploded throwing large columns of water upward from the misses causing the _Tokoro_ to shake violently.

The thundering drone of the engines continued to fill the sky as more noise of a different sort cut through the air, the thundering rapid-fire chatter of machine guns and rapid-fire cannons. Above the chaos Akeno heard Kirkland yelling at Tama, "NO! NO! NO! YOU GOTTA LEAD THE TARGET! YOU HAVE TO ESTIMATE WHERE HE IS GONNA BE IN THE FUTURE! NOT WHERE HE'S AT RIGHT NOW!" She bellowed.

Tama's response was slightly amusing. "THEY NEVER TAUGHT US THIS SORT OF THING! HOW THE FUCK I AM SUPPOSED TO GUESS WHERE MY TARGET IS GOING TO BE!" She snapped back.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY _THAT_?" Kirkland snarled loudly in response.

"HOW ABOUT YOU JUST SHOW ME!" Tama yelled in response, somehow still audible over the fracas that was being produced.

"YOU KNOW HOW TO SHOOT THAT THING, I DON'T! BUT I'LL BE YOUR POINTER! FOLLOW MY FINGER, TRY YOUR BEST TO LINEUP THE CROSSHAIRS TO WHERE I AM POINTING!" Kirkland bellowed.

All above the wanton chaos of battle. Akeno was too busy with the craft that were diving on them, dropping what basically seemed like artillery shells with a tail strapped on. To notice the other craft that was flirting around at higher elevation to the general chaos. That is until suddenly two of the second-type of strange craft darted down in a screaming dive, and six areas of the craft light up with bright flashes and then cannon and machine gun rounds slammed into the bridge and decking a carphoney of rounds peppered the ship. Wood shattered, glass panels blew out, and over eighty holes suddenly appeared in the steel around the superstructure. Something slammed into Rin with so much force that she staggered backward and let out a gasp of pain. "FUCK! That hurt! What the hell hit me!?" She snarled, panting in shock and surprise. Something had just hit her.

"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED! ONE MOMENT EVERYTHING IS NORMAL NEXT THING I KNOW THE GLASS IS SHATTERING, HOLES ARE APPEARING IN THE WALLS, AND THE WOOD DECK IS SPLINTERING!" Kouko shouted as the two craft responsible suddenly pulled up and seemingly rocketed back into the skies with all the grace of a bird.

"I think those things, whatever they were have just nailed us with machine gun and possibly cannon fire. Judging by the size of the holes and the number of them it fits, don't ask me. It just makes the most sense." Akeno said calmly looking around at the mayhem that had just overtook the bridge for several moments.

As they watched the chaos, one black object connected with the USS _Houston_ and sent a sheet of flame and smoke skyward. The whole Heavy Cruiser visibly quivered under the force of the blow. To make something like the _Houston_ visibly shudder under the force of a detonation must mean that it must have been one hell of a hell hit. Yet the Heavy Cruiser kept on moving and firing her limited anti-airship weapons at the diabolically quick craft.

Then, something incredible happened, from the looks of it, the shot responsible came from _Exeter_ but in reality it really could have been anyone. But a black puff of smoke materialized right beneath one of the craft and simply ripped it apart the thing tumbled from the sky it's wreckage spewing flames and smoke as stresses simply ripped the craft apart. A resounding cheer swept across the bridge of the _Tokoro_ at that sight, because it proved that this enemy _wasn't_ invincible that they could hit him and kill him.

Then when it seemed like things possibly couldn't get any better, suddenly another one of those strange craft suddenly plunged into the water a mere twenty meters away from the _Tokoro_ , trailing fire and smoke.

However just a minute after that, the strange craft ascended rapidly into the heavens and quickly disappeared. Akeno glanced at her watch, twelve minutes of pure chaos had just occurred. What the hell had attacked them? It was baffling seeing craft like that and more than a little scary. Mainly because well those things would have slaughtered airships effortlessly. Still, the appearance of that, well it just made their lives a hell of lot tougher.

Kirkland trudged up onto the bridge a few minutes later. "That was unexpected. Bastards got the drop on us. However, we reacted well enough. Still, damn without anything to use to fight those things directly. That means everything just went to hell in a handbasket." She said her shoulders slumping.

"Come on Boats, you know what they say. Plans never survive first contact with the enemy." Akeno said.

Kirkland laughed darkly. "God that is so true. No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. With the enemy popping that surprise on us, just about every plan and contingency plan I can think of, well is utterly FUBARed against that." she said.

Then the TBS crackled. It was Admiral Doorman. "Tokoro _, go and assist the_ Jupiter _they took multiple hits during that"_ he paused as if pondering the right word to use " _air raid and is currently sinking. She's at bearing 018 relative to your current position."_ The Dutch admiral stated grimly.

Akeno grabbed the talker. " _Tokoro_ here, roger Admiral." She said somewhat bluntly before putting the talker away. She then looked at Kirkland. "Rig out the cargo nets and get a detail ready. We're picking up the survivors from the _Jupiter_ that air attack did a major number on her and she's currently sinking." Akeno said glumly, they hadn't even seen the enemy ships yet and they were already down a destroyer.

"Aye aye, ma'am!" Kirkland said with a nod before leaving the bridge. Akeno then turned to Rin. "Make your course 018, ahead two-thirds." Akeno ordered. "Making my course 018, aye! Ahead two-thirds aye!" Rin replied as she brought the _Tokoro_ onto a new course.

Shortly afterward Tama and Mei trudged back onto the bridge. "That was harder than it should have been." Mei said, her arms were shaking from having to manhandle the twin 25mm AA gun mount.

"How so?" Rin asked curiously.

"Well, we've never had any experience at shooting at moving targets with our 25mm defensive guns. I mean, sure if we hit them we can bring them down, but hitting them is rather hard. In order to hit those things, we had to do something that Kirkland calls 'leading' basically we had to guess where the target was going to be in the future, not where he was at when we started shooting." Mei replied.

"Aye." Tama said, agreeing with a nod.

"We'll work on that, still how many do you think we got?" Akeno asked.

"I dunno, but someone got one for sure. I am certain that ourselves managed to down two maybe three of whatever those things were. However the biggest problem we had was simply hitting the damn things." Mei replied with a growl.

"I can imagine, those _things_ weren't even using a lifting gas, their shape clearly described that. Still, I've never seen anything move so fast apart from rockets. I wonder what they were called. It's something straight out of a fantasy novel." Kouko said, sounding awed at what had just attacked them.

"I agree there, it seems like it is indeed possible to fly without using Helium or Hydrogen as a lifting gas. Plus the advantages that those things have over standard airships is _very obvious_. I mean, they could do maneuvers no airship has a hope of following, plus they are undoubtedly quicker, and can carry more gun firepower it seems. Plus one particular type seemed to have the ability to drop bombs, if not in the quantity that an airship could then certainly more accurately." Mei said baffled.

"Alright, then what do we call those things?" Rin questioned, her voice curious.

"Got me." Akeno replied.

"No idea at all." Mei said some what bluntly.

Tama merely shook her head in response.

"I think I've got a tentative name for those things." Kouko chirped energetically.

"What?" everyone on the bridge asked in unison.

"Capable of flying faster, more maneuverable, and with a grace that no airship can match! The world has just been introduced to the aeroplane." Kouko said energetically going through wild motions.

"Aeroplane? Really?" Tama deadpanned.

"Well, those things had planes that were moving through the air. It's either that or calling them heavier-than-air aircraft and _that's_ a massive mouthful." Kouko quipped back.

"As much as I would like to continue this conversation, we're coming up on the _Jupiter_. Rin, back slow, bring us to bearing 005." Akeno ordered as the _Tokoro_ approached the _Jupiter_. The British Destroyer had taken considerable damage, the aft deckhouse which had the number three gun mount resting atop of it had been flattened, the funnel was missing, the main mast had toppled backwards, smoke and flames were pouring from a half dozen wounds, and the ship had a considerable list to port. It was clear that the _J_ class Destroyer was done for.

The crew of the _Jupiter_ were abandoning her as fast as they could. The destroyer was beginning to roll over. It took nearly thirty minutes to fish everyone from the water, but all things considering they had gotten off a little lucky. Only a few ships were showing signs of having taken hits, those ships being USS _Houston_ , HMS _Prince of Wales_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMAS _Voyager_ , and HMAS _Perth_ ; plus of course the brutal beating that the _Jupiter_ had suffered.

Akeno knew that the British Destroyers didn't get fully enclosed turrets for quite a while, thus while they generally had enough automation for everything, they usually had full gun battery team. However it was clear that quite a few crew members from the _Jupiter_ hadn't made it.

It was sad, the majority of the crew for the HMS _Jupiter_ had been wounded in some way, with injuries ranging from simple cuts and bruises to broken bones and 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Plus the fact that they had lost a destroyer and hadn't even seen enemy ships. It didn't bode well.

* * *

Of course, about ninety minutes after that air raid. Everyone was on their toes, keeping an ever vigilant eye out for the enemy. But for some reason, they didn't capitalize on their advantage despite the fact that they a _massive_ one. Still, the enemy now knew their force composition exactly. But to be fair, so did they. Also in that time, Kirkland had reappeared on the bridge.

Akeno found herself wishing that the enemy would make themselves known. The stress was seriously taking it's toll on her. The pre-battle jitters had left and now, well she was trying to fight off the post-combat shakes. Which was the _absolute_ last thing that she needed to be dealing with at the moment. For the battle was far from over, if anything it had just begun. Still, the ships of the Combined Malay Barrier Command plowed on undaunted.

Mashiro rejoined them on the bridge. "Shiro-chan, you have the bridge until I return. I need to go and do something." Akeno said suddenly.

"Captain?" Mashiro asked in surprised, looking at Akeno stumped.

"I just got to do something, okay. I've been meaning to do this for a while but it needs to be done." Akeno said before leaving the bridge. She moved within the interior of the ship, she quickly reached her destination. The ward room, the door was open. Akeno stepped through the hatch and was surprised by what she saw.

Four cots had been arranged in as a simple matter as possible. Lying on them, moaning in pain, where several crewmembers from the _Jupiter_. As scattered around the room where several other students from the now sunk British Destroyer, they too also showed signs of being in pain. It was heart-wrenching seeing them in such shape. However the most disturbing fact was that the entirety of the logistics team was pitching in to help with the number of wounded and there was at least eight crew members from the _Jupiter_ in this room.

"Akane, is it really this bad?" Akeno asked shocked at what she was seeing.

"It's actually worse Captain. Kaburagi-san has three cases in actual sickbay that are worse than these and some of these have broken bones and 2nd degree burns, one has a bad concussion. I am grateful that we have received basic medical training, but you have no idea how much we've been forced to call Kaburagi to ask for advice on how to do something." Akane said looking around and sighing.

"Alright, how bad are the cases that Kaburagi-san is seeing?" Akeno asked, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Third degree burns, broken bones, plus I think one of them has a major concussion." Akane said dropping her head.

"Good God. Do you mind if I go to sick bay? I need to talk with Kaburagi-san. If I can't because she's busy, I understand." Akeno asked curiously.

"She probably wouldn't mind, but please make sure to knock on the door just in case." Akane said solemnly.

Akeno nodded in response. "Thanks Akane-san. I have to ask, why are you here though? You aren't even really medically trained." She asked in surprise.

"When the _Tokoro_ was getting repaired after Operation: FIRST STRIKE; Kirkland-san, well she trained us to the best of her ability in medical training and Kaburagi-san agreed with that and together the two of them trained us to the best of their ability." Akane said with a smile and a wink.

"Oh! I see, that explains why it seems that everyone's skills have suddenly improved." Akeno exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, we are part of the exchange after all. If you want, after the battle we can make Fish and Chips, the galley team on the _Exeter_ taught us how to make them. Figured it would be a nice change of pace." Akane replied with a smile.

"That would be a nice change of pace. But, in the meantime I'll just leave you to it." Akeno said and after receiving a nod from Akane, she then turned and walked out of the ward room. She then trotted down the hallway and arrived at sickbay. While Akeno found it weird that the _Tokoro_ had both a wardroom and a sickbay it sort of made sense. Mainly because if something like a rescue operation were to occur they could provide medical aid to a large amount of wounded.

Still even as she stood before the hatch the led into sickbay, she prepared herself for what she might see. Then rapped her knuckles on the slightly warm metal of the hatch three times. "Come." Kaburagi replied sounding muffled through the hatch.

Akeno opened the hatch and walked through the hatchway. The sight wasn't the prettiest in the world, but it showed just how badly the three crew members from the _Jupiter_ that had needed Kaburagi's medical expertise were. It was disturbing. "How are they Kaburagi-san?" Akeno asked.

Kaburagi sat down in her chair and looked right at Akeno. "These three are doing alright, bunch of broken bones and nasty 3rd degree burns, some internal bleeding but it's not to major. However since we don't have a full surgical suite onboard I can't fix that and the same goes for the fact that we don't have a burn ward onboard, but I've done the best I can to ease their pain. I am semi-tempted to have them transferred to the _Prince of Wales_ or back to shore, but given what just attacked us, both would be suicidal if they attacked us again and caught us when we were doing that." Kaburagi replied grimly.

"Oh, I have to ask. Will they make it?" Akeno asked looking at the three students who were secured in the three high bunk that was attached securely to the wall.

"It appears that they will, I've stabilized them to the best of my abilities with the equipment we have on hand. But, I think that there is a different reason for coming down here." Kaburagi said looking right at Akeno.

Akeno sighed deeply. "Your right Kaburagi-san, well it's part of the reason but not the entire reason for me coming down here. I've been having nightmares recently. Bad ones and they are all about this upcoming battle, I mean they didn't include the air raid. But more towards what I am assuming is the tail end of the battle." She said nervously.

"I am surprised your having nightmares. Plus, considering it's the same one over and over again. I am not really sure how to help you there, even though I do have a Doctorate Degree. Mainly because it has to do with something that's going on inside your brain and I really don't have the equipment or the expertise to help you. However, after this is over if you want me to I could write you a referral to an expert who is more experienced in dealing with this sort of thing." Kaburagi said looking Akeno right in the eyes.

"Thanks Kaburagi-san. Thanks a lot." Akeno replied looking at Kaburagi with gratitude.

"No problem Captain, remember when coming to a decision to have me write that referral, the ball is in your court." Kaburagi said.

"Thanks again Kaburagi. I'll probably come to a decision on that referral after this battle." Akeno said with smile before walking out of sickbay and then heading back to the bridge.

When Akeno arrived back on the bridge. She was feeling a lot better about herself and what she would have to worry about in the future, which at the moment might be her sanity. But she also knew she had a very important battle coming up and thus she needed to be on top of her game otherwise it could result in friends getting killed.

* * *

 _1150 Hours_

Two and half hours after the air raid. The Combined Fleet sighted it's prey on radar at long range and was now closing for the intercept. While for the most part they had been at their stations. They had been cycling the crew members to have everyone checked by the doc or to grab a bite to eat in the form of a sandwich.

"You sure you're feeling okay, Rin?" Akeno asked the helmsman. The reason being was that about an hour after the strike by those strange craft. Rin had started complaining about some chest pain. Going off on a hunch, Kirkland had taken her down to the wardroom where they had taken off the ballistic vest and then pulled her shirt off and found several large black and blue bruises. Kirkland surmised that it was possible when the bridge had been riddled with gunfire that several rounds had actually hit Rin, but the vest had stopped them cold.

"Yeah, I am doing alright. Christ it still hurts. Say what you want about Dragon Skin, it works. But it sure doesn't make you wish it stopped whatever the hell was shot at me, God I am probably going to be _really_ damn sore tomorrow." Rin said wheezing slightly, the force that the rounds had hit her with was very impressive.

"Just be thankful that it wasn't buckshot from a shotgun. I've heard stories that even _with_ body armor; you get hit by buckshot you're going down on your ass and you're going to be sore as hell. Still, your armor caught a couple of rifle rounds from the looks of it, that probably had to hurt." Kirkland said.

"I didn't even feel the majority of the pain from the hits, did feel the kinetic force from the rounds though." Rin said, taking one hand off the wheel to scratch a bit behind her left ear while blushing slightly.

"I can imagine, back home I knew a couple of Gulf War veterans. They often said the same thing, unless it was something like a Grenade, they often wouldn't know that they had been hit. Until usually either later in the day or the day after the firefight when they suddenly find themselves sore as fuck. Trust me, tomorrow probably won't be pleasant for you." Kirkland said cheekily with a smile.

 _If Rin survives that is._ Akeno thought grimly. "Great." Rin deadpanned which earned a round of laughter from everyone on the bridge.

That's when the whistle for the speaking tube went off and then Noma's voice came through the speaking tube. " _Captain! Smoke on the horizon! Bearing 345, estimated range 25,500 meters! There's a lot of it too. My guess is that we have found the enemy fleet."_ She said sharply.

Akeno grabbed her binoculars and peered through them. Sure enough, just barely visible against the clear blue sky was several plumes of dark grey smoke. Which meant that the enemy probably didn't have an as trained engineering room crew. Nodding with Noma's report, Akeno turned to the speaking tube that went to the crow's nest. "Confirmed Noma, we're seeing it here. Looks like three ships for sure, maybe as many as four or five." Akeno said into the speaking tube.

" _I can confirm five ships at least judging by the amount of smoke I am seeing. It's faint but it's there."_ Noma replied tersely.

Well, that clinched it for Akeno. She grabbed the talker for the Talk Between Ships and toggled it. " _De Ruyter_ this is _Tokoro_. Smoke on the horizon, bearing 345 at a range of 25,500 meters. The amount of smoke indicates at least six ships." She said quickly.

It didn't take long before the _De Ruyter_ replied. " _Affirmative_ Tokoro _. We're seeing it too. It's faint but it's visible, I am not surprised that our lookouts missed it. Your main lookout must have incredible eyes. But, based on our intel, that's likely our quarry. Let's go say hello, shall we?"_ Admiral Doorman replied, his this having a _slight_ bit of eager anticipation.

Signal flags were raised, TBS messages flew in a flurry across the airways and seemingly as one the ships of the Malay Barrier Defense Command turned toward the enemy force, to start the battle that likely would decide the fate of this entire conflict.

The two fleets converged, quickly moving into effective gun battery range. A range of 16,000 meters and it promptly began fluctuating. "Prepare for artillery battle!" Akeno ordered crisply.

Tama nodded and went to the speaking tube and delivered orders. The four gun turrets that the _Tokoro_ possessed, each mounting two 6in/53 caliber naval rifles ground to life and swung toward the enemy ships. The _Tokoro_ wasn't the only ship to be preparing for the upcoming battle, the turrets on the _Exeter_ also came to life and slow slewed out toward the enemy ships. The same deal happened on the _De Ruyter_ as her turrets also traversed and brought the rifles that they mounted to bear on the enemy ships.

Akeno brought the binoculars up to her eyes and peered through them. Her lips instantly creased into a frown as she spotted a major problem and it had to do with the enemy Heavy Cruisers, those _Zao_ class monsters. Both of them had four turrets in the main battery like _Exeter_ did, but those four turrets each mounted _three_ lethal rifles, which meant that each of those Heavy Cruisers had _twelve_ 8in naval rifles which meant that when compared to the _Exeter_ 's eight naval rifles or the _Houston_ 's six naval rifles, there was a clear firepower disparity.

She turned her gaze to the enemy _Alsace_ class Fast Battleship, the big imposing French monster, she was confident that the _Prince of Wales_ could take that monster on. Mainly because the _Prince of Wales_ had a distinct firepower advantage, with the _Alsace_ class having nine 15in/45 caliber guns while the _Prince of Wales_ mounted ten 15in/45 Caliber Mk II guns mounted in two Quadruple turrets and one twin turret. Plus they were right at the range where shells from the _Prince of Wales_ could easily mulch the side armor of that thing, but the thing was they were right at the range where that thing could penetrate the _Prince of Wales_.

Sighing, she looked at the _Giussano_ class Light Cruiser and knew that while on paper it seemed the thing was a match for any light cruiser the Malay Barrier Defense Command could field at the moment with the exception of the _Java_ and the _Dauntless_ in terms of firepower. She knew that was a lie, even 3in/50 caliber guns wouldn't have a problem penetrating that thing, its armor was so poor. No, the Light Cruisers she was worried about where those _Chapayev_ class Light Cruisers, mainly because they had just enough armor to bounce 4.7in and 5in gunfire and they vastly outgunned every single light cruiser the Malay Barrier Defense Command had those things were bad news.

The Large Destroyers outclassed their destroyers in just about every way, but the regular enemy destroyers, well they also outclassed their destroyers but the destroyers that the Malay Barrier Defense Command had were smaller and agile. So they would likely prove to be a pain-in-the-ass to sink.

But those weren't Akeno's biggest concern for this battle. No, her biggest concern for this battle was due to her ship's closeness to the flagship of the fleet and the Heavy Cruisers would be to make sure they didn't get hit by those _Zao_ 's and that Battleship which Akeno was willing to guess that the Battleship was also the flagship of the enemy force, but besides juggling that, she had to make sure that they didn't get hit by those light cruisers; because while the _Tokoro_ was a light cruiser, she was only a little bigger than a destroyer which meant that hits from anything bigger than the Large Destroyers, particularly if they managed to penetrate could do an enormous amount of damage to them and of course may God help them if they were hit by a torpedo mainly because the _Tokoro_ didn't have much in terms of torpedo belt armor.

"Firing solution locked on target, Special Purpose Common loaded. Ready to fire, Captain!" Tama said quietly as she heard the gunnery team reply as they finished locking in the enemy ship.

Akeno nodded in response, and then it began. Fire and smoke rippled out from the 8in guns on one of the _Zao_ 's followed moments later by the rest of the enemy fleet opening fire. Then suddenly Admiral Doorman's voice came over the TBS. " _All ships, FIRE!"_ He roared and at that command, Akeno yelled "Commence firing!"

The Malay Barrier Defense Command fleet let out seemingly as one, a massive broadside of steel. Tracers blazed like fiery comets as they hurtled down range toward their targets. Enemy shells streaked in, the terrifying yet familiar sound of canvas being torn rent the air as the shells hurtled in. Enormous plumes of water erupted around them as the shells landed.

The guns on _Tokoro_ barked out in anger. Sending shells screaming down range, but once again as the battle continued. The superior training of the enemy began to let themselves be known.

With a horrific sounding _crump_ a shell impacted and penetrated through the armored hide of the Light Cruiser like it was nothing, a split second later the shell exploded. The _Tokoro_ shook violently and caused everyone on the bridge to stagger in response. "Kouko, how bad were we hit that time around?" Akeno asked as the 6in guns the _Tokoro_ had kept up a spirited fire, making sure that the steel was kept flying. They had taken a couple of hits throughout the battle, nothing serious yet, but that was bound to change. However in hindsight, they were really working over the _Giussano_ ; the thing was hurt badly, for the thing had noticeable list and was afire in several areas.

"Same as the previous hits we've taken, minor damage sustained. But looking at the damage control board, that hit tore the hell out of the galley. We're still good on watertight integrity and we have no fires to deal with. But something is trying it's damnedest to hit us, judging by the sound of it. Don't know what though." Kouko said grimly as the _Tokoro_ shuddered slightly from a bunch of near misses from an enemy _Mogador_.

"Tama, shift targets. The _Mogador_ at bearing 255 is trying way too damn hard to hit us." Akeno said as the _Tokoro_ shuddered again from a series of near misses.

"Captain, we do that we will have to alter our course _towards_ the enemy fleet in order to bring the entire main battery on target." Tama replied.

"How many guns can we bring on target?" Akeno asked.

"Three turrets." Tama stated cooly.

"Good enough, load HE and hit him." Akeno ordered and Tama nodded then turned to the speaking tube and delivered orders. The gun turrets on _Tokoro_ traversed away from the _Giussano_ and then opened fire. Shells streaked down range, actually glinting in the sun as they did so. Splashes erupted around the daring _Mogador_ , which had been trying his luck for the past several minutes by getting closer and closer to the friendly fleet. However gunfire from the Destroyers pretty much now had him boxed in and thus made him virtually a sitting duck.

Shells slammed into the destroyer and brilliant flashes appeared as shells hit, fireballs erupted. As the _Mogador_ surged out of the spray from _Tokoro_ 's misses, it revealed that her pilothouse and number two gun mount had taken a beating from the _Tokoro_ 's shells. Then more rounds impacted and fire began to engulf the forward battery, the ship began to turn but then caught _Tokoro_ 's next salvo broadside. Six bright flashes appeared and the ship lurched while smoke and sparks erupted from the funnels, flames quickly became visible amidships on the thing. More shells impacted and the enemy destroyer leader came to groaning stuttering halt.

Then suddenly the _Tokoro_ heaved violently, which threw everyone to the floor, and with a scream of tortured steel, part of the bow forward got decimated by shells, with a clattering roar the starboard side anchor chain disappeared into the hole that those shells had created. "New target! New target! Enemy _Chapayev_ , commence firing!" Akeno yelled as more shells landed and threw tremendous columns of water into the air.

The turrets on the _Tokoro_ swung around to a new target, they aligned, rose up, and then spat their payloads at the enemy ship. "How bad were we hit Kouko?" Akeno asked over the chaos of battle that surrounded the _Tokoro_.

"Pretty bad, both the paint and chain lockers are gone. Starboard anchor chain is about a deck and half below where it's supposed to be. Plus we got a large number of broken windows. Probably got a lot of broken cups, bowls, and plates too." Kouko reported calmly.

"Thanks." Akeno said before going to the speaking tubes. "Kaburagi? Any injuries?" She asked crisply.

" _Negative, Captain. But giving how often the ship is shaking and how every so often I am hearing the distinctive sounds of shells hitting the ship. I am willing to bet that won't last long."_ Kaburagi replied quickly.

Akeno, glanced at the Chronometer and realized that they had been at this for nearly two hours. That's when the someone yelled over the TBS. " _Holy hell! Multiple enemy torpedoes inbound!"_

"Noma!" Akeno shouted into the speaking tube.

" _I am not seeing any torpedoes, were probably in the clear Captain. But if I see something, I'll holler."_ Noma replied.

"Understood." Akeno replied as she grabbed her binoculars and looked at the enemy fleet and allowed her lips to quirk up into a thin smile. They were certainly doing some work, for one of the _Zao_ 's was down an aft 8in gun turret and was afire amidships, while the other _Zao_ had smoke and flames licking out from nearly a dozen wounds that marred its superstructure and hull. It was clear that those two ships were taking a beating, for even as she watched, multiple flashes appeared along one of the _Zao_ 's and soot, steam, and sparks erupted out of the back part of her trunked funnel and the ship lost speed almost immediately.

Nodding in apprehension at what she was seeing there. She shifted her gaze over to the _Alsace_ class and was stunned by what she saw. The Battleship was sitting very low in the water, had a very visible list, most of it's secondary battery was knocked out, a main turret had been knocked out, the ship had a serious fire raging nearly out of control aft near the third main gun turret, and the thing appeared to be slogging it's way through the water. It was clear that _Prince of Wales_ had hammered it and had done so hard.

Suddenly a bright flash caught her attention, she looked and saw that a _Le Hardi_ class had just blown up, it's twisted and gutted wreck already awash and sinking fast. Maybe they _could_ win this after all, because at no point during her dream did she remember seeing a _Le Hardi_ class blow up.

As she swept her eyes over the enemy Light Cruiser section, she noted that while the _Giussano_ was certainly struggling to make itself useful with _three-quarters_ of it's main battery knocked out, it's hull holed multiple times, and the thing was heavily afire. But the thing soldiered on and it's two remaining guns refused to go silent. But the fight against the _Chayapev_ 's could be going better from the looks of it, they had only scored a couple of hits against those things.

Suddenly something went _crunch_ forward and then a large explosion threw everyone to the deck while the _Tokoro_ trembled as if a God had struck her with a sledgehammer. "REPORT!" Akeno yelled as she scrambled to her feet.

"Were hit bad Captain! That hit according to the damage control display severely damaged the traverse for turrets I and II, they can still rotate but not as quickly as they would normally! Fire has taken hold aft near the funnel!" Kouko reported quickly, looking terrified. They were taking some _big_ hits, the funnel had been holed a few times and they had taken a few over penetrations then that hit had happened.

Akeno glanced for Kirkland, but she had already left. Damn, she was good when it came to this damage control business. "Mei, I think we better dump our torpedoes, we're on fire aft and the last thing we need is our torpedoes exploding on deck." Akeno said, then moments later several large and muffled explosions ripped through the air, it was a sound that Akeno had heard before… torpedo warheads hitting their target and exploding. Then the distinct sound of a large explosion filled the air as well.

Dread filled Akeno's chest as she heard those sounds. She went to the speaking tube for the communications shack. As she did so, it seemed that the shriek of incoming shells, the thunder of guns, the crash of shells hitting ships, the enormous splashes from misses, the cries of the wounded and the dying, the crackle of the fire aft, all of it… seemed for some reason to get louder, sharper, and crisper.

"Tsugumi, give me a report! How many of our ships are left?!" Akeno asked into the speaking tube, for sounding strangely breathless. Why was everything seemingly conspiring now!? Her dream couldn't be coming true! Could it?

" _Not good Captain, it's not looking good at all. The_ Kortenaer _suffered a direct hit from an Oxygen Torpedo. According to the Captain of the_ John D. Edwards _, it caused her to blow-up, turn over, and sink all at once. Due to the_ Kortenaer _being destroyed so unexpectedly, it forced the_ John D. Edwards _to take evasive action unless they wanted to ram the wreck. Also the_ Dauntless _has reported that they are abandoning ship, they are dead in the water having suffered multiple 8in shell hits and have taken two torpedoes. Plus the_ Exeter _just reported in, their Fire Control Radar has gone on fritz, their accuracy has been greatly reduced, they're trying to get it back-up and running but they don't know what the problem is. Not to mention all of the ships in the formation that still have radios and are still afloat are reporting damage."_ Tsugumi replied quickly.

"God _damnit!_ Keep me posted Tsugumi!" Akeno hissed in response.

" _Yes captain!"_ Tsugumi replied.

Akeno glanced at the Chronometer, it was approaching 1400 hours pretty quickly. Shaking her head at how fast time seemed to be going past, Akeno looked forward at the _Exeter_ , the British Heavy Cruiser had taken a couple of hits but nothing major, yet. Her 8in guns kept up a thundering contrario, it seemed like even the ships that they were manning knew how important this battle was and thus were doing everything they could to help. Forward of the British Heavy Cruiser, the _Houston_ was giving it her all, the six 8in guns that she still had were firing quickly, but the American Cruiser had taken a couple of hits, but was still continuing on.

Ahead of both of those Heavy Cruisers, the HMS _Prince of Wales_ finally finished her duel with the enemy _Alsace_ class Battleship, sending a salvo of 15in rounds tearing through sections of the upper belt and deck armor of the heavy listing battleship and igniting a main powder magazine, the resulting explosion tore the French-designed Fast Battleship in half amid a tremendous huge pillar of burning powder that hurled the gunhouse for turret II clean into the air, sending something that probably weighed several hundred tons flipped end over end on a parabolic arc that terminated roughly thirty meters away from the now rapidly sinking battleship, pieces of steel and burning debris also were hurled violently into the air.

That's when it went pear-shaped. With an enormous ringing _crash_ the HMS _Exeter_ took a direct hit and unlike previous hits these rounds cleaved right through the Heavy Cruiser's belt armor with ease. The ship visibly shuddered as the rounds exploded and then with a with a thundering, deafening _whoosh!_ A gout white steam exploded outward from the side of the British ship, while soot, steam, and sparks erupted from her aft funnel. The British Heavy Cruiser started slowing down instantly after the hit, which in turn forced the _Tokoro_ to slow down.

"Oh fuck." Kouko remarked shocked at what she had just seen. Here was a Heavy Cruiser that they had seen shrug-off hits from 6in guns with ease, weapons that could decimate the _Tokoro_ and now she took one solid salvo and it wrecked havoc on her.

Then as if to further prove that it seemed the enemy had finally had enough of playing around. A large explosion rocked the front of the column. _Damn, damn damn._ Akeno thought as she once again went to the speaking tube for the comm shack. "How's it looking Tsugumi?" Akeno asked calmly, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

" _Not good! The_ Exeter _is reporting that they have suffered extremely heavy damage, they've lost an engine room and have several fires aboard. HMAS Voyager_ _also just took one hell of a hit. They are still afloat, but have suffered crippling damage, they are retiring from the battle as we speak. The situation is deteriorating awfully quick, captain!"_ Tsugumi replied short and crisp, but there was an undertone with being run ragged.

"Understood, carry on." Akeno stated, before looking up at the carnage that was continuing to occur.

Then suddenly freight train roar filled the air, the sound caused the hairs on the back of Akeno's neck to stand on end. Enormous columns of water straddled the _Tokoro_ while aft there were multiple loud _whams_ followed by explosions that caused the entire ship shake as if struck by an earthquake. It threw everyone to the deck, as Akeno scrambled to her feet her senses as captain of the _Tokoro_ instantly told her that something was wrong. The way that the deck vibrated now, it seemed different than what was normal for the _Tokoro_ she also noticed that they were losing speed. The other she noticed was that it seemed the fires aft were out, probably extinguished when those straddles drenched the deck. The last thing she noticed however was that of someone maybe several someones screaming in pain and that it was coming from one particular speaking tube, the one that led to engineering.

"Maron, what happened down their? Is everyone alright?!" Akeno asked frantically and breathlessly into the speaking tube for main engineering. She then glanced at Kouko and before she could even ask for a damage report, she got one.

"They got us real bad captain. Turbine two has been destroyed which means we are down a shaft, in case you're wondering it's our central propeller shaft, so she won't become to skittish because of uneven thrust. We've also been holed in several locations aft, nothing major done their although one has turned one of our storage areas into an utter mess." Kouko said quickly and efficiently.

" _We've been hit bad, Captain! We've lost a turbine, I am shunting all steam that is being used for propulsion to turbines one and three. But that's not the worst of it, Reo-chan and Sora-chan are down! Both are badly injured and losing a lot blood, we need corpsman down here_ now _!"_ Maron yelled to be heard over the chaos.

"Affirmative, help is on the way!" Akeno said before dashing to the speaking tube for sickbay. "Kaburagi! We have injured in main engineering, two critical cases! We needed corpsmen down their ASAP!" Akeno nearly shouted.

" _Roger, dispatching Mimi and Mikan now, but due to the fact that there's two wounded, I am also sending Akane and Homare."_ Kaburagi replied calmly.

"Thanks! Please, keep them safe." Akeno said calmly, trying her best to school her emotions not for her sake. But for keeping everyone calm having people panic was the last thing that Akeno needed on the bridge at the moment.

" _I'll will do my best Captain. But, there's no promises."_ Kaburagi replied flatly.

Even as Akeno stepped away from the speaking tube, more splashes straddled the _Tokoro_ and again the _Yūbari_ class Light Cruiser shuddered and trembled under the force of powerful blows as shells impacted with ear-ringing _bangs_. Amid those sounds there was a horrific sounding _boom_ that caused the ship to shake like a thing possessed. Everyone onboard the ship staggered in response.

"Damage report!" Akeno yelled to be heard over the fracas that roaring naval rifles, canvas tearing shriek of shells, enormous plumes from misses, tremendous crashes, booms, bangs, and whams that hits caused, and the cries of the wounded and the dying that seemed to be all around.

"Turret four has been blown up, were lucky that didn't ignite the magazine. Then we would be in a heap of trouble." Tama said after getting a report from the _Tokoro_ 's gunnery team.

 _Wait, oh God. It's beginning to play out just like my nightmares. This can't be happening._ Akeno thought as sure enough, Mashiro's voice came over the speaking tube. " _Captain! I am seeing a large amount of damage amidships from my perspective, the amidships and searchlight platforms are gone, the funnel has serious damage, and I am seeing major damage near the torpedo tubes. It might be wise to launch our torpedoes. Before we get nailed in that area."_ Mashiro said quickly, sounding absolutely terrified.

"Mei, let's dump our fish. Are there any ships in range?" Akeno asked.

"Yes captain there is. The _Giussano_ is range as is one of the _Zao_ 's and one of the _Chapayev_ 's. But from the looks of it, that _Giussano_ has be-" Mei began to say, but then a bright flash of light, a rapidly expanding fireball in fact suddenly erupted on the horizon. Piece of flaming steel, burning oil, and what looked like a gun house was thrown violently into the air, flipping end over end; ship at the epicenter of the fireball seemingly disintegrating. Moments after that a muffled **boom** reached them and it caused a round of cheers to sweep across the bridge.

The TBS crackled moments later. " _Scratch one Light Cruiser! We just scattered that_ Giussano _all over the water! Take that you son of a bitch!"_ The captain of the HMS _Exeter_ whooped gleefully.

"Alright, let's launch some torpedoes at the _Chapayev_ it's closer." Akeno said briskly.

"Right! Let's see how this guy likes our Mark 17 Torpedoes, thank god that someone found a bunch of the things in Manila before we were forced to abandon it. But let's put them to work!" Mei said before turning to the speaking tubes that lead to the torpedo tube operator chambers. Shortly afterward she turned to Akeno. "Ready to commence attack!" she said.

"Commence attack!" Akeno ordered.

Mei nodded there was a hint of giggling glee in her eyes. She then turned to speaking tube. "Fire in salvo! Mount one: Fire one… fire three… fire five! Mount two: Fire two… fire four… fire six!" Mei boomed.

Aft of the bridge inside the splinter shield for the torpedo mount operators, they fired the small impulse charges that propelled a gleaming Mark 17 Hydrogen Peroxide powered torpedo into the water, they promptly shot towards their targets at high speed.

"Torpedoes away Captain!" Mei said with a grin.

That's when a terrified cry from Noma came over the speaking tube. " _Incoming salvo from a_ Zao _! Twelve rounds inbound!"_ She yelled as a terrifying canvas tearing shriek rent the air that sent bolts of terror flashing down Akeno's spine. The canvas-tearing shriek turned into a blood-curdling scream.

She looked frantically around and saw one main emotion: fear. Rin must have sensed it too, for she said. "Uh-oh, this is probably gonna hurt." Those words wound up being the last ones she ever said.

Then the shells impacted. Nine rounds missed, causing the _Tokoro_ to shake violently, one shell slammed into ship near two of the boats and blew the area to pieces and physically hurled a Skipper away from the _Tokoro_ , another shell slammed into the funnel and detonated blasting an incredible amount of steel and shrapnel all over the damn place plus thoroughly mangling it, and the last shell slammed into the base of the pilothouse. A fraction of a second later eighteen pounds of cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine better known as HMX detonated.

An enormous fireball engulfed a large part of the pilothouse as the explosive force of the shell tore an area of it apart. Kaede, Tsugumi, and Megumi suddenly found themselves dashed to their chairs as whirlwind of shrapnel tore through the pilothouse, the blast thoroughly wrecked the long-range radio, sonar display, and radar display. Pieces of steel including heavier fragments from the damn shell that started this chaos blasted their way through the heavy-duty spall liner that protected bridge. The teak wood strakes on the floor of the bridge shattered as steel ripped through them. A piece of shell fragment the size of a half-inch ball bearing punched into Rin just to the right of her nose. The fragment maintained its velocity and inertia all the way through its passage until finally it came to a dead halt when the thing punched Rin's helmet off her head while the back upper portion of her skull erupted outward in horrifying display of blood, bone, and brain matter.

Rin Shiretoko, quite possibly the bravest person Akeno had ever know, dropped lifelessly to the wrecked wooden deck of the _Tokoro_ 's bridge with a jarring _thud_ that seemed to echo through the bridge and be lost in the sounds of over people screaming in shock, despair, fear, and pain at the same time.

Akeno looked around bridge horrified at what had just occurred and took stock of the situation. Rin was down on the deck, unmoving. Kouko who appeared to be unharmed was clutching her and wailing about her being dead, which considering that a good piece of Rin's head was no longer recognizable, was completely understandable. _I am sorry Rin, God I am so sorry. I've failed as a Captain, for I've failed to keep those under my command safe._ Akeno thought morbidly, knowing that she would have to write an very heartbreaking letter at some point after this battle or no, scratch that, go and visit Rin's parents and explain in detail the events that had led up to her death.

Mei had a very nasty looking gash across her right thigh and one inch long jagged splinter lodged in her left arm. She had managed to stay on her feet, if somewhat shakily. "FUCK, THAT HURTS!" She snarled angrily.

"Don't fucking touch that! Don't fucking touch that splinter!" Tama snarled uncharacteristically at Mei when she went to yank the splinter out of her shoulder. Mei instantly let her hand fall to her side. "Still hurts!" she wailed.

Tama nodded in sympathy for her friend, before giving herself a once over and then grimacing. Judging by the way that her right arm was hanging limply down by her side, it looked like it was broken. She also had a big bloody gash on her left leg that was half an inch long.

"Kouko! See if the helm still responds!" Akeno yelled in an attempt to be heard over the tinnitus that was happening in the ears of nearly everyone who was on the bridge. "B-but Rin's dead! She's gone!" Kouko wailed sounding heart-broken.

"Kouko, we can mourn Rin later; but right now, I need you on the helm!" Akeno snapped sounding a little harsh.

Kouko nodded and got to the wheel, she gave it a spin and seemingly as sluggish as a crippled manatee the _Tokoro_ altered her course. "Helm answers my commands, captain!" Kouko said.

"CAPTAIN!" Mei shouted suddenly, Akeno looked and saw that she was staring at something on her. Mei's eyes were as wide as saucers in shock at what she was seeing. That's when Akeno realized she was feeling light headed.

"Contact the auxiliary conn! Tell Shiro-chan that the ship is her's!" Akeno snapped out quickly. She then looked down and wished she hadn't, for she saw that her left-side was dark. She put her hand there and it came away red and sticky, it was blood. Her legs promptly gave out and she fell to the ruined floor of the bridge, with a painful thud that elicited a sharp scream of pain to escape her lips.

"This is the bridge! We have multiple wounded, we need corpsmen on the bridge ASAP! Mashiro-chan, Captain says that the ship is yours!" She yelled into the proper speaking tubes.

But Akeno didn't hear the response at all, mainly because it was taking all of her willpower to stay awake. She knew that badly injured didn't really cover how bad she was injured, the term 'Life-threatening' was probably better. At least she couldn't feel any pain, thank god for adrenaline Akeno presumed.

* * *

Kirkland was the first person on the bridge of the _Tokoro_ after they had taken that gigantic hit. She promptly grimaced at the sight she saw when she arrived. Rin was down on the deck, unmoving and lifeless, her eyes wide open, a small pool of blood surrounding the back of her head. Both Mei and Tama were badly injured from the looks of it, but were still on their feet somehow. By some goddamned miracle, Kouko appeared to be completely unharmed, well physically unharmed at least. But the thing that instantly caught her attention, was the fact that the brave captain of the _Tokoro_ was down on the deck and wasn't moving.

She instantly moved to Akeno's side and put her fingers to the young girl's neck. Relief flooded her when she felt a pulse, it was weak but it was their. However she needed medical attention immediately. She grabbed her walkie-talkie "Kaburagi, you in sickbay or the wardroom?" She asked speaking quickly but clearly.

" _I am in the wardroom, why do you ask Kirkland-san?"_ Kaburagi asked sounding confused.

"Listen, you need to prep for a possible emergency surgery. I am on the bridge, it's pretty bad up here. Tama and Mei are badly injured, Rin's dead, Kouko is somehow unharmed, but Captain Misaki is severely injured possible life-threatening injuries." Kirkland said bluntly.

The line was silent for a full ten seconds. " _Understood, I am starting preparations right now. Get her down here ASAP."_ Kaburagi replied sharply losing her soft-spoken demeanor and replacing it with one of rock hard professionalism.

"Yes ma'am!" Kirkland replied and then with all the care that she could muster, Kirkland gently picked up Akeno off the deck.

Moments later Akane, Homare, Mimi, and Mikan appeared; with Akane and Mimi each carrying a stretcher. She gave them both an imperceptible nod and motioned who needed their help. "Kouko, head aft. You will be needed at the auxiliary conn to help Mashiro!" Kirkland said waiting for a second to allow Kouko to nod in response before leaving the bridge and moving as fast as she could without exaggerating Akeno's injuries.

The _Tokoro_ was a mess forward, those shells had dealt incredible damage to the light cruiser. The fact that she was still afloat was incredible, but nevertheless, she had a feeling that soon they would have to retire from the battle. Mainly because it seemed that ships were dropping left, right, and center.

Still it didn't take her long to arrive in the wardroom. She burst into the space. "Doc! I am here!" Kirkland bellowed as she entered the compartment.

"Alright, put her on the table gently, I'll then need your help with the surgery." Kaburagi ordered sharply.

"Yes ma'am!" Kirkland said, before gently putting Akeno down on the table.

"Alright, first thing we need to do is start up the IV, get her started on oxygen, get some fluids and sedative into her, I can do that, you however Mr. Kirkland can fetch me a blood bag, make sure it contains either Type B positive or Type O positive blood." Kaburagi ordered sharply.

"Yes ma'am!" Kirkland said before sprinting out of the compartment. That left Kaburagi with her patient just as Akane and Homare arrived with a stretcher that was burdened with Tama entered the compartment and right behind them came Mimi and Mikan with a stretcher that had Mei in it. Kaburagi had to restrain the will to curse. She looked at the chief medical officer from the _Jupiter_ and barked out rapid orders. "I need you to patch up those two, do it in sickbay! I am getting ready to do a surgery here!" Kaburagi hissed.

The young man nodded and ushered the stretcher bearers out. A few moments latter, Kirkland came back in. "Here I grabbed two blood bags of B positive. I also took the liberty to put on medical scrubs and medical gloves. We ready to go?" Kirkland said as she looked at Kaburagi.

"Yes, thanks for the blood bags." Kaburagi said as she finished setting up the IV and got it going and then put on her surgical mask. She hated the bloody thing, but it needed so she could do this surgery.

"First order of business let's get this ballistic vest off." Kirkland said looking at it and Kaburagi nodded, picking up a pair of trauma shears and began cutting through the side of the vest, in order to remove it so they could get started on the surgery proper.

* * *

While Akeno was fighting for her life below decks. Mashiro was stunned at the brutal battering that the _Tokoro_ had taken. But even more than that, _she_ was now the captain of the battered _Yūbari_ class Light Cruiser. This was beyond bad.

" _Captain! Signals are going up from the_ De Ruyter _, we are to disengage and head for either Surabaya Java at best possible speed! The_ Java _,_ Houston _,_ Perth _, and_ De Ruyter _will cover our escape!"_ Noma shouted in order to be heard over the chaos.

Well, that settled that. Everyone knew that it was time for her to jump into the command role. While she was a little peeved at Kaburagi having basically commandeered the entire logistic/accounting staff of the ship to help her in medical. She didn't mind the fact that several of the bridge officers from the _Jupiter_ were now aboard and serving back here. She looked around, two young women and a young man who had been from the _Jupiter_ but had decided to help were up here with her, plus the entire crew of the _Tokoro_ **plus** the survivors from the _Jupiter_ were counting on her.

"Alright! Bring her about to compass bearing 155, both sides ahead standard." Mashiro ordered sharply and then muttering to herself "Get us the hell out of here."

"Yes ma'am, bringing her about to compass bearing 155, both sides ahead standard." The helmsman, a young man from the _Jupiter_ by the name of Cody Stewart, replied calmly before spinning the wheel and causing the _Tokoro_ to quickly slip out of formation.

Mashiro quickly noticed that other ships must have already done so, but the reason that _Tokoro_ was probably being among the last ships to leave the area was simply because of how battered she was and the hit to the pilothouse.

That's when she spotted a major problem. HMS _Exeter_ was limping away, sailing in tandem with the two _Wickes_ class Destroyers USS _Walker_ and USS _Mahan_ plus the _E_ class Destroyer HMS _Electra_. The British Heavy Cruiser was showing signs of major damage, but her guns were still firing at targets she could see. That's when she noticed the majority of the fleet must have already withdrawn for fuel and ammunition concerns.

"Noma, how's it looking from your perspective?" Mashiro asked as the _Tokoro_ maneuvered to get into a position to cover the Cruiser as she escaped.

" _Not good captain. I am seeing something that is very bad! A_ Chapayev _is leading three_ Le Hardi' _s on a vector that indicates they are moving in for torpedo attack."_ Noma said calmly.

Mashiro cursed sharply first in English, then in Japanese, Chinese, and finally Korean. This was bad, the _Exeter_ was a vital asset that needed to be protected at all costs. She went to the proper speaking tube. "Gunnery! Engage those ships!" She snarled.

" _We can't Captain! We don't have enough shells to sink any of those ships! We're down to only about twenty rounds per turret, there's likely substantially more in turret four, but since that turret's destroyed we will have to transfer it by hand and we don't have time for that!"_ Takeda replied quickly.

That stopped Mashiro cold, they had fired _that much_ ammunition? That gravely complicated matters. Another speaking tube came to life, it was Tsugumi. " _Captain, the long range radio set may be trashed, but you are going have to listen to this on the TBS set!"_ Tsugumi said suddenly, before Mashiro could even respond a new voice came over the tube, one that Mashiro recognized as the Captain of the HMS _Electra_.

"Exeter _, listen in shape you're in, you are in no shape to fight that light cruiser or it's entourage of destroyers. We will hold them off and buy you time to escape."_ The captain of the _Electra_ said sharply.

"Electra _, don't even think about it! That's a one way trip and you know it. You'll be going up against three superior destroyers and a light cruiser! The destroyers are bad enough, but light cruisers are called 'the mortal enemy of destroyers' for a reason!"_ The captain of the _Exeter_ snapped back.

" _Then you don't see it sir. They don't intend to engage the_ Exeter _in a gun-duel, they are making a torpedo attack, we're the only ship that has a prayer of delaying them long enough to escape, plus the two destroyers and the light cruiser that's accompanying us."_ The captain of the _Electra_ snapped.

" _Give them hell,_ Electra _."_ The Captain of the _Exeter_ said grimly, realizing that the commander of the _Electra_ was dead set on this.

Even as the _Electra_ heeled over and began to accelerate rapidly from a rather leisurely twenty knots to well over _thirty_ knots, something interesting occurred. Her normal Battle Flag was hauled down and in it's place an enormous Union Jack appeared, flying proudly over the destroyer, which made her look inconceivably small in comparison.

Someone must have left the mic for the TBS open on the _Electra_. For then something amazing began to happen. Someone onboard her in the bridge began singing.

" _Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis glory we steer,_

 _With heads carried high, we will banish all fear;_

 _To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,_

 _For who are so free as the sons of the waves?"_

Then it seemed the whole bridge crew got in on the singing as the song entered the refrain.

" _Heart of Oak are our ships,_

 _Jolly Tars are our men,_

 _We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady!_

 _We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again."_

It took Mashiro a split second after hearing that chorus that the song the bridge crew of the _Electra_ was singing as they charged the enemy, main battery opening fire and spitting hate at the enemy for all it's worth, was Heart of Oak, the military march of the Royal Navy.

It was inspiring watching the _Electra_ go up against foes many times her size and watching as she engaged with her main battery and torpedoes, her bridge crew singing all the way. They couldn't exactly see what was going on as the _Electra_ was quickly lost amid shell splashes and exhaust smoke, but it was clear she was providing one hell of a distraction. Even if it was one that they wouldn't be returning from.

The last Mashiro saw of the brave HMS _Electra_ , she was on fire aft, with minor but noticeable list, her main battery down a gun but still blazing away for all it's worth. Then the scene was shrouded by smoke and spray.

* * *

The _Tokoro_ pulled into Surabaya Java at 0350 Hours the next morning. There was some good news. That mainly being that Akeno had survived her emergency surgery and that her prognosis was good. But she was in absolutely _no_ condition to be on a ship leading it into combat nor would be in any condition to even be standing let alone walking for the better part of a month. She had been hit by seven pieces of shrapnel, thankfully only three had actually hit and injured her, the rest including a rather large piece had impacted her vest. The prognosis for Tama and Mei was good as well. They would be able to with either crutches or a cane in a short enough period of time that they would be able to accompany the _Tokoro_ in her escape.

But sadly, that was where the good news ended and the bad news began. After they fled the battle, it had continued on in several 'pulses' for several more hours until the enemy got lucky and with a nasty torpedo salvo sank both the _Java_ and _De Ruyter_ with all hands, including Admiral Doorman. Before that had occurred the _Houston_ and the _Perth_ had retired from the battle, resupplied and repaired, then tried to run the Sunda Strait in company with the Dutch Destroyer _Evertsen_. They ran head-first right into a Kraken Fleet invasion force and a hellish two and half hour brawl ensued that ended with both the _Perth_ , the _Houston_ , and the _Evertsen_ sunk by enemy forces at around 2356 Hours, 0053 Hours, and 0032 Hours respectively. Worse, the _Tokoro_ was down to only 500 nautical miles or so in terms of fuel oil and barely had any shells left. As if the enemy just seemed to wanted to kick them while they were down, Surabaya Java had been the victim of an air raid that had done substantial to not only the city but the harbor as well. Plus of course, Rin having been killed in the battle.

"All stop, finish with the engines." Mashiro said glumly as the _Tokoro_ finally came to rest in the harbor alongside a quay. She was exhausted, it made her wonder if she had what it took to be a captain. It allowed her to finally get a good look at the battered and heavily damaged HMS _Prince of Wales_ ; the _King George V_ class Fast Battleship had been forced to retire from the battle after she had suffered several citadel penetrations that had wiped out three of her boilers and severely damaged the traverse of her aft turret, which was also a quadruple. Several gaping wounds marred the main armor belt, the upper armor belt, and her superstructure from where rounds had punched through her armor and had exploded, dealing a substantial amount of damage to the Fast Battleship.

"Captain, look! An airborne ambulance!" Someone yelled and pointed wildly at something that was approaching the _Tokoro_. She looked and saw something that caused her heart to nearly leap out of her chest with joy. For flying toward the Quay that the _Tokoro_ was docked at, was quite possibly the very last Airship that the Indonesian Blue Mermaids possessed, however this one had a slight change in its paint scheme, the predominantly navy blue paint scheme with gold accents now had an additional markings on it mainly several broad white stripes with a bright red cross in them.

"Kaburagi, is Captain Misaki safe to move?" Mashiro asked, seeing an opportunity to guarantee the safety of one her friends and crewmates leap in front of her.

" _She is safe to move Deputy Captain. Is this about an air ambulance that is coming for landing?"_ Kaburagi replied.

"Yes it is." Mashiro replied.

" _Alright, good. I put in the call for that thing shortly before we arrived in port. I've appraised them of the situation and the condition that Captain Misaki is in, complete with a rather complete medical report. We've decided that an air ambulance will come, pickup Captain Misaki, Reo, and Sora, plus the three most critically wounded from the_ Jupiter _, and Rin's body then take them all to Darwin Australia at best possible speed."_ Kaburagi replied.

"Okay, get those five ready for transport then, mainly because it's here." Mashiro said, before standing up and walking to sickbay. It didn't take her long to find Akeno's stretcher, if anything the _true_ captain of the _Tokoro_ looked close to dead, slightly pale, her hair was matted to the back of her head, and her eyes were closed.

"I need you captain, I am not ready for this, not ready for my own ship. I just wish I could have just a little bit of advice, you're better at this than I am." Mashiro said softly, gazing at Akeno's inert form.

"If it's any consolation, Deputy Captain. She'll likely wake-up on the trip to Darwin, but captain; your need to rest, we have a long and painful two days ahead of us and thus we need our Captain on her toes. Doctor's orders." Kaburagi said somewhat bluntly.

Mashiro deflated, she knew that Kaburagi was right. Particularly considering that she had a _Doctorate_ 's Degree and was a certified doctor. It was probably the reason why they hadn't lost anyone who had been through the ringer. That is until a low groan reached Mashiro's ears, she turned and saw something that she never expected.

"Captain!" She exclaimed in shock, for Akeno's eyes were starting flutter open.

"Ugh, what the hell hit me?" Akeno groaned out, trying to sit up, but judging by the way she grimaced and then let her head rest back on the pillow, the pain was too much.

"In respect to what hit you, several pretty nasty pieces of shrapnel. Some of them were stopped by your ballistic vest, but two sliced through your side, that's an area where your ballistic vest only provides modest protection. By some miracle they both missed the missed the important stuff, although the internal damage was still quite severe. You had a third fragment hit your left leg and it continued on it's path for nearly six inches before finally coming to a stop about an inch and half below your hip. It was a real pain trying to find it." Kaburagi said glumly looking at Akeno.

"Will I be able to walk again? Or even command the _Tokoro_ and led her crew to wherever we're going next?" Akeno asked bitterly.

"You will walk again, but you're in _no shape_ to command the _Tokoro_ , you'll probably be bedridden for a couple of weeks while you're recovering from surgery. That's why were putting you on an airship and then it's going to take you to Darwin Australia." Kaburagi said in the sort of tone that only doctors seemed to be able to produce.

Akeno sighed deeply. "Damnit, I have to ask. Did we win the final battle?" She asked sadly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to take to the sea for a long time.

Mashiro shook her head solemnly. "No, we were decisively beaten. The HNLMS _Java_ , HNLMS _De Ruyter_ , USS _Houston_ , HMS _Dauntless_ , HMAS _Perth_ , HNLMS _Kortenaer_ , and HMS _Electra_ have all been sunk. The _Voyager_ was found by enemy aeroplanes after the battle and was promptly bombed and sunk as was the HNLMS _Witte de With_ , HNLMS _Van Nes_ , and HNLMS _Van Ghent_ who were escorting her back to Surabaya. The _Electra_ was lost when she intercepted a trio of destroyers led by an enemy cruiser that was making for a torpedo attack on the _Exeter_ , forcing them to maneuver to avoid her torpedoes and to deal with her. According to reports, the _De Ruyter_ and the _Java_ tried one last time to get at the transports and thirty minutes into the gunfire exchange were ripped apart by multiple torpedoes and were sunk with all hands. The _Houston_ and _Perth_ retired to another part of Java, meet up with the HNLMS _Evertsen_ and tried to run the Sunda Strait, they didn't make it; all three of them ran into an enemy force, were surrounded and then hammered to the bottom. The USS _Alden_ , USS _John D. Edwards_ , USS _John D. Ford_ , and USS _Paul Jones_ are going to be departing as soon as their fuel bunkers are full; their destination is going to be Darwin Australia. The USS _Marblehead_ and HMS _Dorsetshire_ are going to be departing Clicajap within three days and they are going to be heading for Perth-Fremantle Australia. Intel from submarines suggests that we have bought ourselves perhaps a full day, maybe if we're lucky a day and half. We are going to repair what damage we can, find what provisions we can get our hands on, and find the ammunition that we can. After that, were going to be departing Surabaya Java for Darwin Australia at sundown." Mashiro said her voice filled with sadness.

"I see, then since I am no longer fit to be _Tokoro_ 's captain. Mashiro as much as it pains me to say this, but I might as well make it official. You're now the captain of the _Tokoro_ with all of the responsibilities entitled to that position." Akeno said sounding, mournful, as if she blamed herself for Rin's death.

"I-I-I-I understand; thanks captain. I'll do my absolute best to keep everyone on board the _Tokoro_ safe." Mashiro said, her voice shaky at first but then becoming very determined.

"Alright, let's move. Three… two… one… lift!" A medic from the air ambulance said before himself and another mermaid grunted slightly and lifted the stretcher. Mashiro walked with them all the way to the ambulance.

"Akeno! I'll see you in Darwin!" She shouted as the engines for the Ambulance spooled up. She got a feeling that Akeno didn't hear her, but who knew. Then the door for the gondola closed and then the airship took off and quickly disappeared.

Mashiro sighed and then turned and walked back aboard the _Tokoro_. She then walked to the pilothouse and entered the bridge. It had been cleaned up significantly, the splinters, broken glass, metal fragments, piece of bone, and the blood had been cleaned up. Leaving hardly any sign that they had been their in the first place. But Mashiro could see faintly just barely visible, a blood stain where Rin had fallen.

She went to the ship wide speaking tube. "Worried?" A voice said behind her. Mashiro spun and saw Kirkland standing in the starboard side doorway to the bridge.

"Yeah, I am worried, I am also scared and nervous. I usually only commanded the _Harekaze_ whenever Akeno went on an away mission. Same goes for the _Tokoro_ , so I don't really have any experience when it comes to this stuff. How I am _fit_ to be Captain, if I don't have any experience in terms of doing it?" Mashiro replied.

"Alright, you help? Here's what you're going to do. First, you're going to split the crew evenly up into teams and have them look for the following: two new motor launches that we can 'borrow', new life jackets, new inflatable life rafts to replace the ones that have been torn up or destroyed by the battle, finding provisions in the form of food, water, and medical supplies, another team to get to work on repairing the worst of the damage that they can patch, another team to find as much 6in/53 caliber ammunition as humanly possible: Special Purpose Common, High-Capacity, Armor-Piercing, hell even Illumination rounds would be welcome; our magazines for each turret has a capacity of one hundred fifty rounds per gun, we currently in three of our turrets have only thirty rounds per guns, turret four might have some additional ammunition so have that distributed between turrets one, two, and three; make sure that they grab propellant charges as well; plus torpedoes if they can find them, and lastly another team to find fuel oil because we need it badly. After you send those teams out; you're going to sleep for six hours and then you're going to read a book that I brought with me and that I intended to give to Akeno, it's called 'Ship Captaining for Dummies' and it's basically a how-to guide and it basically breaks down how to become good at captaining a ship barney style, but one can also use it to improve themselves." Kirkland said eyeing Mashiro, who promptly gaped like a fish.

"Kirkland-san, this all seems like too much for me to handle." Mashiro stuttered out.

"It may, but like it or not. It's time to step up plate and take the reins. So buck-up Mashiro, welcome to the life of a captain!" Kirkland said sharply and Mashiro jumped in shock and then a look of pure determination appeared.

"Right." She said, her look becoming hard but at the sametime carrying an undertone of softness. She then went to the ship wide speaking tube, took a deep breath and started speaking.

"Attention all hands, this your captain speaking. As I am sure you're all aware, the situation is grim. With the _De Ruyter_ , _Java_ , _Houston_ , _Perth_ , _Dauntless_ , _Kortenaer_ , _Electra_ , _Jupiter_ , _Van Nes_ , _Evertsen_ , _Van Ghent_ , _Witte de With_ , and _Voyager_ all lost, plus the _Exeter_ , _Prince of Wales_ , our own beloved _Tokoro_ heavily damaged along with the destroyers _Pope_ , _Encounter_ , _Walker_ , _Mahan_ , _Backert_ , and the _Stewart_ being the only ships that will still be in Surabaya, Java by noon today. With the _John D. Edwards_ , _John D. Ford_ , _Alden_ , and the _Paul Jones_ going to be leaving by sunrise. But we can still escape with our lives to the safety of Australia, however in order to do that we need to work together so we can get _Tokoro_ ready to sail and fight once again. Thus for the duration of our stay here in Surabaya Java, which will be the last time we are here, we need several things. We need food, water, medical supplies, we need people to start repairing the worst of the damage, we also need a team to go and look for 6in/53 caliber ammunition and powder charges as well as torpedoes if you can find them, and lastly we need a team to find fuel oil. I don't know about you, but let's get to work." Mashiro said in an authoritative voice but it was the kind of voice that filled one with determination.

Even as a thunderous applause filled the halls and spilled out onto the decks of the _Tokoro_. Mashiro saw Kirkland give her a smile. "Bosun, before you say what I know what you're going to say. I am going to organize the teams and send them out, after that is all done. _Then_ I am going to get some sleep." Mashiro said before leaving the bridge, but not before taking time to brush her fingers along the ship's wheel in a loving way and muttering quietly enough that only herself heard it. "May you forever rest in peace Rin; I'll miss you, for your bravery was most certainly greater than possibly the entirety of the crew combined."

* * *

Eight and half hours later, a rather bleary eyed, recently having been aroused from sleep Mashiro was standing on the bridge of the _Tokoro_ , looking over a clipboard with a report on it. While there was nothing that they couldn't do about the utterly _smashed_ turbine two and the destroyed turret four; the crew of the _Tokoro_ which could now be very much considered a composite crew of both the original crew of the _Tokoro_ and the survivors from the _Jupiter_. They had still managed to pull something of a minor miracle, repairing a large amount of the damage, even now the sounds of repair work resounded through the extremely battered hull of the light cruiser.

Even better the teams sent to find food, water, and medical supplies had found a good amount of each. However they had found no torpedoes but had found enough ammunition to give each gun a total of 100 rounds, but that was only including the rounds and powder charges that they had taken out of turret four and distributed to the other turrets but it was better than nothing, but it still wasn't a lot of ammunition enough for certainly a couple of hours of firing. Still the lack of torpedoes bothered Mashiro greatly, because it meant that _Tokoro_ would have to work hard in order to really hurt anything bigger than a Light Cruiser of coursing hurting a battleship or battlecruiser severely enough to allow them to escape was nearly out of the question, not unless Mashiro was willing to play kamikaze and even then, the Battleship would come out in better shape than _Tokoro_.

Still Mashiro frowned as she looked over the hastily hammered out plan. They were to set sail and head for Cilacap where _Exeter_ could get better more permanent repairs than the temporary repairs that they were doing here. But at least they now had a long-range radio again. Even if said radio had been taken from the _Stewart_ which was going to be scuttled in the floating drydock she was in, her crew would travel to Australia onboard the _Prince of Wales_.

She went over to the speaking tube that lead to main engineering. "Maron, how does the steam pressure for our boilers look like?" Mashiro asked, they had decided to move up the time table for their departure.

" _Pretty good captain! Were at 100 pounds across the board!"_ Maron replied sounding cheerful but stressed. It was clear that Reo and Sora-chan being badly injured had taken a toll on her.

"Roger that, keep up the good work Maron." Mashiro said before grabbing the talker for the TBS. She sighed before she started speaking. " _Prince of Wales_ this is the _Tokoro_ ; our boilers are at pressure and we are ready to move." She said quickly.

" _Affirmative,_ Tokoro _. Everyone else is reporting the same thing; boilers hot and ready to roll. Alrighty then, let's get this party started then."_ Captain Saunders of the _Prince of Wales_ replied earnestly.

It was time, finally at long last to escape this hell hole. To finally leave this area whose air seemed to get heavier by the day as the situation had deteriorated. Seemingly haunted by the spirits of those whom they had lost. With good reason, all of those who had died fighting the Kraken Fleet, it had been in vain.

"Crewmen at the bow, prepare to leave the harbor." Mashiro yelled as the force-draft blower went from it's slightly subtle rumbling to something more intense as additional fuel and air was allowed into the boilers. With a thundering clattering the portside anchor was slowly raised. "Raise anchor and take in all lines!" Mashiro barked. Kaede blew the bugle on the bow, getting a surprised look from Kayo. Shortly afterward she lowered the red flag and raised the green one signalling that the anchor had cleared the bottom. Mashiro then gave an imperceptible sigh before giving her next set of orders. "Take us out nice and slow. Both sides ahead slow, _Tokoro_ shukkō suru!" Mashiro ordered calmly.

"All ahead slow aye! Taking her out!" The 'acting' Chief Navigator of the _Tokoro_ , Cody Stewart said; while the noise the force draft blower created intensified drastically. The _Tokoro_ 's two remaining turbines accepted the glorious offering of steam from the Light Cruiser's blazing heart of eight Kampon Boilers. Ever so slowly the _Tokoro_ began to power forward and left the Quay at Surabaya, Java one last time. The ship continued on, although the quickly saw an interesting sight.

" _Captain, you're not going to believe what I am seeing!"_ Noma said suddenly.

"What is it Noma?" Mashiro asked.

" _There's a high-speed launch; looks like a Rigid Buoyant Boat that has a couple of people onboard is attempting to catch-up with us, wait looks like the_ Walker _is slowing to pick them up."_ Noma said looking on as the _Wickes_ class slowed down for several minutes to pick up the people who were in the boat. Then increasing speed to resume her place in the formation.

Still it was time to leave the area for good. That is, if it wasn't already too late to do so.

* * *

 **AN: That's that, the Haifuri take on the 1st Battle of Java Sea with the follow-up battle that occurred a few hours later Battle of Sunda Strait or in this case 2nd Battle of Sunda Strait being mentioned. This fight has basically broken the back of the Malay Barrier Defense Command. Because well, you can't win theaters with one battleship, one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and a handful of destroyers; it's simply impossible.**

 **As for the Aeroplanes that attacked the Malay Barrier Defense Command Fleet, the first type were basically Aichi D3A1 "Val" Dive Bombers and the others were basically FW-190 A-1s and FW-190 A-4s.**

 **Next fight that shall occur is, 2nd Battle of the Java Sea.**

 **Anyway, take care folks and I'll catch you next time.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Here we go folks, another chapter of the Haifuri: Gone Asiatic has arrived. I've decided to start pushing myself for 10k word chapters. Because you** _ **never**_ **know what you can do if you push yourself.**

 **Still last chapter, the Malay Barrier Defense Command was all but wiped out. What ships that can are retreating for as Australia as fast their engines -in some cases heavily battered- can carry them. The largest of these groups has one Battleship, one Heavy Cruiser, one Light Cruiser, and a handful of destroyers.**

 **Let's see what story the ocean has to tell us today, shall we?**

* * *

 _Java Sea_

 _Onboard_ Tokoro

Captain. Mashiro wasn't entirely sure if she could really shoulder that responsibility. But, like it or not; she now had been forced into that role, it sounded like something out of a novel except it wasn't. So she had to keep her wits about her, remain calm, and most importantly not fucking panic. She panicked then her crew would panic and that would result in a series of disaster dominios that would likely culminate in the sinking of the _Tokoro_ with heavy loss of life. So _that_ was looming over her head.

Then again the prospect of death at sea was looming over the head of not only the crew of the _Tokoro_. But also the crew of the HMS _Prince of Wales_ , HMS _Exeter_ , HMS _Encounter_ , HNLMS _Banckert_ , USS _Walker_ , USS _Mahan_ , and USS _Pope_. Or in other words, eight ships that all had some form of damage, major too. Due to damage they could barely make twenty-one knots, sad thing was that the majority of their ships couldn't go that much faster.

" _Captain, signal from the_ Prince of Wales _. They've picked up enemy ships ahead of us. Getting to Tjilatjap via Sunda Strait is no longer an option. We're going to have to turn around and head in the other direction."_ Tsugumi replied grimly.

"Affirmative. Cody, time for us to change course, bring us compass bearing 090. Both sides ahead standard." Mashiro ordered in response.

"No problem ma'am! Bringing us around, bearing 090, all ahead standard." Cody said as he spun the wheel with a style of grace. It was just as well, for suddenly multiple splashes bracketed the _Tokoro_ and _Exeter_.

"What the hell?!" Kouko exclaimed in shock.

"Battlestations!" Mashiro yelled and few moments later the Star Brass Steam Siren started up it's incredibly loud whooping which predictably a few moments later began dueling with the sound of a horribly off-key bugle. But just like the few previous times, it did the trick for the sound of people running through hallways, the sounds of hatches being slammed shut, etc. reverberated through the _Tokoro_. The ship usually had thirty-one, but now she had crew of forty-five plus two cats and a dog that had somehow survived the chaos of the 1st Battle of Java Sea. Although the dog and the new crew members had come from the now sunk HMS _Jupiter_.

" _Fucking bastards! They must be using either radar assisted or directed gunfire control or spotters! What's the biggest threat that the enemy fleet has out their?"_ Captain Blinn on the _Pope_ snarled over Talk-Between-Ships.

" _I was checking into that, radar officer is saying that the biggest threat closest to us. It's a pair of, oh bloody hell,_ Zao _class Heavy Cruisers, range 45,500 meters they must be using rocket-assisted ammunition. Those two warships working together in tandem could tag-team_ Prince of Wales _very effectively. Plus looks like they are bringing two destroyers each. Let's advance in the other direction shall we?"_ Sophie said over the TBS as another salvo landed among the ships, sending towering columns of water flying skyward. But in a rather wide spread.

" _There accuracy seems to be pretty crappy from this range. Might have to do with the shells but it's most likely the range that they are firing from. Forty-five kilometers is downright_ impressive _, but at long-range accuracy from artillery shells tends to suck. Although I hear railguns can deliver GPS guided rounds from a range of three hundred seventy kilometers."_ Captain Reddy on the _Walker_ said as the ships turned around, more splashes erupting around them as they did.

"Well, seems like the enemy can't for shoot shit at long range, let's try and keep the range open and hopefully their aiming will remain crappy." Mei muttered under her breath.

"Yes, let us hope that their aim remains crappy and we also seriously have to pray that we can put enough distance between them and us." Kirkland said as the _Tokoro_ finished her U-turn and began to head in the opposite direction away from Sunda Strait and away from those two _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers as they continued to lob long-range fire at them; the fire was inefficient and didn't score any hits but it had everyone's hairs up on end from the canvas-tearing shrieks and enormous shell splashes.

They continued to run, but due to damage; they could only at most achieve maybe twenty-five knots. Those things could and would chase them down rather easily, so they had to exploit the range advantage now if they had a chance to survive. Which meant going the other way as fast as humanly possible and as quickly as their ship's engines could handle without breaking spectacularly. Still they managed to get out of range of the two heavy cruisers. But they knew it was likely going to be only temporary.

* * *

The day grew longer as they continued to run away from the enemy forces, knowing that it was impossible to fight them in a straight up duel. They could _do_ it now, but chances were that they would suffer heavy losses. Losses that should be avoided at all costs, for they simply didn't have the time to lose a major ship in a fight and then fish people from the water.

Onboard the USS _Walker_ DD-163. Captain -well technically Lieutenant Commander when going by what his rank would be if he was commanding the USN equivalent to the _Wickes_ class a _Freedom_ or _Independence_ class Fast Frigate, but he was the CO of the _Walker_ thus the moniker of Captain or Skipper- stood on the bridge wing of his destroyer. He actually had been a transfer to the Asiatic part of the Junior Naval Academy from the USN Pacific Fleet Junior Naval Academy. Becoming an XO in his Junior year of a _Gearing_ class Destroyer. Then his Senior Year came around and two things happened, first was that he got his very own command, but it wasn't even a _Farragut_ class DD attached to the Pacific Fleet, instead he got an old 'Four-Stacker' of which there was only four or so still in the Pacific Junior Naval Academy; this brought him to the second thing that had happened, in order to take command of his ship, he had been transferred to the Asiatic Junior Naval Academy.

He sighed as he remembered the events that had wound up to them having to run away. Battle of Java Sea being the most responsible for _that_ , the forces had practically been even. Yet despite the fact that they had sunk several ships including a great big battleship, it hadn't been enough.

He scratched the stubble that was on his chin almost nonchalantly as he peered at what was possibly the very last vestiges of the Malay Barrier Defense Command that were still afloat. It really showed how they had gone from having possibly fifty ships or so maybe at their command, they had now been brutally reduced to just eight ships.

To say that this school year had been interesting up to this point was an understatement. Still, he wished that they had a chance for one last fight, to go down swinging. It probably came from his Texas upbringing and the spirit of the Alamo, he felt that running away was against his nature. But after hearing about what had befallen Admiral Doorman it really drove home that they couldn't outfight this steamroller and even outrunning said steamroller would be tough.

"Here captain, coffee." Raymond, one of the kitchen staff aboard the _Walker_ said, handing Matt a steaming cup of coffee. "Thanks Ray." Matt said calmly taking the cup of coffee.

"You're welcome, Captain. It has two sugars in it. But sir, I have to ask. What will befall us? I mean, will we survive our escape?" Raymond asked curiously, his voice heavy with emotion.

"To be honest Ray, I got no idea; however considering everything that has happened. Who knows if that's how the chips will fall." Matt replied shaking his head in response.

"Oh, I see. Thanks sir." Raymond replied before continuing his rounds around the bridge.

Matt shook his head and then put a hand in front of his mug of coffee in an attempt to prevent the wind that was created when moving at a speed of twenty knots from splashing it across his front. Which considering that it was relatively hot and fresh would probably hurt like an utter bitch.

" _Captain, signal from_ Prince of Wales _. Enemy sighted, confirmed as two_ Zao _class Heavy Cruisers_ _flanked by four_ Le Hardi _class Destroyers."_ Radioman Clancy in the comms shack said, his voice coming over the speaking tube.

Matt sighed he figured it was only a matter of time, but he also knew why the _Prince of Wales_ succeeded in spotting the enemy first, mainly because her lookouts were a lot higher than the _Walker_ 's were. Sure enough some time later, with a flurry of color, the 'Enemy spotted' signal went up the halyard on the _Exeter_. Which was shortly followed by the appropriate signal flags going up the halyard on the _Tokoro_ , indicating that they had spotted the enemy as well.

Matt grabbed the talker for the TBS and keyed it. "Tokoro _, this is_ Walker _. Can you confirm enemy ship count?"_ Matt asked calmly and after a few moments of silence the TBS set crackled. " _Affirmative_ Walker _, count confirmed. Two_ Zao _class Heavy Cruisers and four destroyers, be advised the destroyers_ do not _appear to be_ Le Hardi _class destroyers nor_ Mogador _class Large Destroyers. I repeat the enemy destroyers_ do not _appear to be_ Le Hardi _class nor_ Mogador _class Large Destroyers."_ Mashiro replied over the TBS.

 _Well that's just perfect. The enemy has decided to spring something new on us._ Matt thought grimly as he mulled this new information over. This certainly complicates matters greatly.

* * *

Back aboard the _Tokoro_ , Mashiro found herself wondering what the enemy could be using now for destroyers. Still, they certainly could serve as something of a blocker, run interference against those destroyers, mainly because of their rapid-firing hard-hitting 6in guns. Of course, Sophie the CO of the _Prince of Wales_ had made it clear that the chain of command would go as follows.

At the moment the _Prince of Wales_ was the flagship of the fleeing squadron, if the PoW was sunk or crippled. Command would then fall to the _Exeter_ , then after the _Exeter_ was the _Tokoro_. Which in turn was followed by the _Encounter_ , and then the _Pope_ , with lastly the _Walker_.

She heard a distinctive sounding _Gong! Gong! Gong!_ Of an American General Quarters Alarm wailing followed by a little bit of chaos. "Kirkland, I know that we've had stations manned for the past four hours after those enemy ships opened fire on us. But with nothing having occurred recently, I think we should have GQ sounded again. Just to make sure that everyone is at where they need to be." Mashiro said somewhat bluntly.

"I am inclined to agree. Mainly because we've been at stations for so long and we've hadn't had anything bad happen. Some of the crew might be goofing around or they think we're out of harm's way." Kirkland replied gruffly, her voice filled with emotion. Totally understandable for what they had just gone through.

"Alright, sound General Quarters." Mashiro said calmly with a crisp efficiency, as she prepared herself for the battle that was bound to ensue. With everything that had transpired and was going to transpire, it was time to step up and prove to herself that she could be dependable commander.

"Aye, aye ma'am!" Kirkland said before stepping over to the ship wide speaking tube which happened to be next too to the activation switch for the Star Brass Steam Siren. She pulled out something that was attached to a ball chain necklace that was around her neck, a gleaming silver object, she put it to her lips, and then blew. A piercing screech came from the Bosun's whistle, a sharp sound that caused everyone to stop what they were doing and wait. She then engaged the Star Brass Steam Siren. "General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations, set traffic up and forward on the starboard side down and aft on the portside! Set material condition Zulu throughout the ship! Prepare for contact with enemy forces!" She yelled into the speaking tube.

Chaos seemed to erupt throughout the hull of the _Tokoro_ as everyone scrambled to get the ship ready for combat. Hatches slammed shut with ringing _clangs_ , the thunder of shoes and boots against metal decking and ladders rang throughout the hull. The distinctive sounds of weapons being manned, loaded, and armed for combat resounded. "Engineering manned and ready, main battery manned and ready" Kirkland screwed up her face in irritation. "Deck manned and ready, all stations are manned and ready." Kirkland reported calmly some three and half minutes later. Mashiro had to withhold a sigh, a time like that probably would have earned the ire of even Akeno.

The speaking tube that went up to the crow's nest squawked and Noma's voice came through. " _Captain, from my perspective up here. It was just plain_ chaos _on deck as everyone got ready. They probably forgot that the enemy was out there and thought that we had given them the slip. It was particularly amusing to watch."_ Noma said in a slightly amused tone.

"Captain, if we survive this, may I please give a firm talking to the deck division?" Kirkland asked suddenly.

"Why's that?" Mashiro replied, sounding somewhat confused.

"The deck division was the last division to report in. I am not amused by that and I have some very strong words for the deck division." Kirkland replied sounding a little upset.

"Permission granted, if I was in your position I would be hedged to agree with you on the fact about having some strong words." Mashiro replied.

That's when Tsugumi's voice came over the speaking tube that led to the comms shack. " _Report from the_ Exeter _! The enemy has opened fire!"_ She cried and sure enough several moments later the all too familiar canvas tearing shriek of incoming rounds rent the air followed shortly afterward by enormous… orange and green colored plumes of water erupting skyward.

" _That's new, the enemy is using dye bags in their shells to help with spotting. Bad news for us."_ Captain Oliver Gordon on the _Exeter_ said over the radio.

In response to the enemy beginning to rain shells down on them, the aft turrets of the _Prince of Wales_ and _Exeter_ slowly elevated there guns and then fired. Enormous clouds of fire and brownish-grey smoke enveloped the sterns of the two ships as they hurled rounds back down range toward the enemy. The anxious atmosphere that had been building up throughout the day was suddenly gone, replaced with exhilaration as adrenaline took hold.

Then Noma delivered some really bad news. " _Captain, I can see the enemy ships. They are approaching hand over fist, they must be making thirty knots plus!"_ She exclaimed in shock.

More shell splashes erupted, less then last time and the _Prince of Wales_ shuddered in response to several hits. A few moments later Turret X voiced its displeasure and hurled four massive projectiles back down range. "Noma, signal the _Prince of Wales_. They've taken a couple of hits, have they suffered any damage?" Mashiro asked into the speaking tube.

" _Affirmative Captain!"_ Noma replied as the enemy shells continued to rain down and the _Exeter_ and _Prince of Wales_ kept up the return fire. Mashiro glanced over at Tama and saw that she was staring aft, with a look of helplessness. The enemy may have been in range of the two 6in guns that they had aft, but the chances of hitting anything or doing any damage was next to none. It would be quite a while before they could bring their 6in guns to play on the enemy and have a chance of actually doing damage. Even longer for the 4in, 4.7in, and 5in gun armed destroyers that were accompanying them.

A few minutes later, Noma's voice came back over the speaking tube. "Prince of Wales _reports no damage, apart from dents in the deck and possibly some scratches in the boot-topping."_ She said the shrieks of incoming shells sounding a lot louder than normal, but granted she was outside.

The duel between the ships continued, while overhead loitering just out of range of their limited anti-air defense two spotting planes circled, constantly providing updates to their progress, transmitting corrections for the enemy ships, and alerting every single enemy ship that they could raise on their radios.

" _Captain, message from the_ Exeter _. There fire control system has just quit. They've suffered no hits yet, but the thing finally gave up the ghost."_ Tsugumi reported suddenly, sounding absolutely heartbroken.

The exhilaration that Mashiro had felt earlier drained away, replaced by cold dread. Without her gun fire control system, it would be almost impossible for the British Heavy Cruiser to score hits. Their chances of surviving this battle had just dropped significantly.

"Damnit, this is beginning to go bad. Tsugumi, keep us posted." Mashiro said somewhat bluntly. As she said that, the _Exeter_ shuddered several times as the enemy finally hit home on the CA, it was clear that the enemy was beginning to find the range.

Just when Mashiro couldn't think the situation couldn't get any worse, it did as the TBS squawked. " _Heads-up all ships. Our lookouts got eyes on more enemy ships. Two Heavy Cruisers at least, each escorted by at least one destroyer."_ Captain Saunders said over the radio.

 _Well fuck. We need cover._ Mashiro thought grimly, that wasn't good at all. She gazed out the windows of bridge, looking longingly at the squalls that were starting to dot the horizon as the warm and muggy air evaporated to form clouds. If they could just get into one of those squalls then they might just have a chance at surviving, possibly.

That's when the destroyers suddenly began maneuvering, thick black smoke poured from their funnels as they formed a line abreast formation behind the _Tokoro_ , _Prince of Wales_ , and the _Exeter_. The thick smoke screen that the destroyers were creating quickly expanded into pall that was impossible to see out of. "Don't know about you, but when I see that, I always get a hoot out of it." Kirkland remarked with a smile as the smoke seemed to expand to cover the entire horizon. The smoke screen had its intended effect, for the incoming enemy fire slacked off greatly as the enemy gun directors were deprived of a view of their targets. The salvos that did come in, were horribly inaccurate.

" _Enemy sighted! Count four destroyers unknown class, bearing 015! Closing at high speed!"_ Noma suddenly announced over the speaking tube. Mashiro instantly snapped to that compass bearing and brought a pair of 10x binoculars to her eyes. Sure enough there was four destroyers closing at high speed. Yet the appearance of the destroyers caught her attention. They had distinctive clipper bows with a bit of flare near the top, a large and completely enclosed pilothouse, two raked and angled back funnels, four gun turrets with two forward and two aft, plus what appeared to be two fully enclosed torpedo mounts. They appeared to be a little longer than the _Kagerou_ class destroyer that she had been on during her freshman year, were probably just as lethal to; the fact that they were moving at least thirty-five knots maybe faster judging by the rooster tail that they were kicking up meant they were in a hurry.

"Tama, engage those destroyers! Commence firing!" Mashiro ordered calmly. Tama nodded and barked instructions to the artillery team. The two forward turrets twitched and then slewed out to face the enemy destroyers and then barked out a ragged salvo. Moments later, hearty cracks and bangs from the destroyers as well as _Prince of Wales_ 's secondary battery came to life. Splashes erupted around the charging enemy destroyers as they advanced.

 _Tokoro_ 's first salvo landed and Tama gave corrections and the battery opened fire again. This time the shells landed close enough to probably give one of the destroyers a hard-knock. Meanwhile the friendly destroyers continued making smoke, but they changed their formation and went racing up the starboard side of the _Exeter_ and the portside of the _Tokoro_. Their main batteries booming to life as they did so.

Suddenly one of the enemy destroyers visibly quivered as multiple bright flashes of yellow light appeared along the flanks and pilothouse of the enemy destroyer. An enormous fireball erupted out of the ship's deck near the base of it's second funnel. The destroyer slowed visibly as more flashes appeared along its flanks, funnels, and pilothouse. It was clear that the enemy destroyer was taking a beating but the ship continued to advance. Still the sight of that fireball caused nearly everyone onboard to cheer and even caused Mashiro to feel like pumping her fist.

That's when a bright orange and black flash followed right after by a heaving roaring _crash_ rent the air. Moments later Noma's voice came over the speaking tube, sounding horrified at something. " _Captain! The_ Exeter _has been hit! She's been hit!"_ She shouted in alarm and fear.

Mashiro spun toward the _Exeter_ and caught the fireball beginning to fade. The _Exeter_ 's speed dropped from arduous twenty-five knots to a mere six knots as if she had hit a brick wall. Before Mashiro realized what she was doing the talker for the TBS was already in hand. " _Exeter_ , what's your status? Do you need assistance?" She asked frantically.

" _This is_ Exeter _, the bloody bastards got us good. Most of our boilers are gone, I repeat we've lost most of our boilers. Thanks for the help everyone we'll take it from here. Good luck."_ Oliver said over the radio, sounding morbid and defeated.

Mashiro cursed long and creatively in four different languages. "Understood, if worse comes to worse we'll see you in hell." Mashiro said somewhat bluntly as the _Tokoro_ sped past the crippled _Exeter_ at twenty-five and half knots. Her six inch guns still blazing at the enemy destroyers. More shells were now dropping on the _Exeter_ with alarming frequency, splashes were erupting all around her, but amazingly her aft 8in guns kept up a spirited fire and flying proudly from her mainmast was an enormous White Ensign. A clear act of defiance, one that showed the crippled Heavy Cruiser would fight to the very end.

The fire seemed to grow more and more accurate as they left the crippled Heavy Cruiser behind. Eventually her 8in guns fell silent as the ship began to list heavily, while flames quickly became visible amidships. Lifeboats, liferafts, and skippers entered the water, filled with crew while those who couldn't have gotten to the boats, leaped into the water without a thought or fear for their lives. The _Tokoro_ altered her course and began to come up to the port side of the _Prince of Wales_ and then a sudden commotion broke out among the destroyers as they suddenly began to heel over and turn in one particular direction.

Then the TBS crackled and the voice of Captain Blinn on the _Pope_ came over the channel. " _Krak torpedoes! I am evading!"_ He shouted in alarm.

Mashiro wasted no time, for with torpedoes running there was very little chance to react and evade these torpedoes. "HARD TO PORT!" she yelled sharply.

Helmsman Cody spun the ship's wheel as quickly as humanly possible and the _Tokoro_ reacted, turning quickly. Mashiro looked and saw that the _Prince of Wales_ was doing the samething. She ran to the bridgewing and glanced down into water and just a ninety seconds later, a gleaming silver object shot past the hull of the _Tokoro_ with mere _inches_ to spare. Mashiro sighed in relief as the torpedoes streaked by, without hitting any of the destroyers, the _Tokoro_ , nor the _Prince of Wales_. That is until she realized with a bolt of terror slashing through her that it was impossible for one ship to dodge torpedoes.

She looked back at the _Exeter_ , which looked like she was going to capsize. Then three massive shock plumes erupted along her flanks as three torpedoes slammed into the side of the _York_ class Heavy Cruiser and exploded. Steam roared out orifices and cracks in the Heavy Cruiser, as did large amounts of soot and smoke as the once proud and beautiful HMS _Exeter_ rolled onto her side, right on top of some of the boats and people that were in the water.

"God." Mei whispered in shock at seeing just how clipped and efficient the enemy was at making sure the _Exeter_ didn't survive. They made it look like a mere execution, which for all intents and purposes it _had_ been a mere execution, no mercy shown it had been cold and ruthless; an act of cruelty against a ship that had been clearly doomed. Well it made Mashiro grateful that Akeno hadn't been here to see it, for it likely would have broken her heart.

* * *

Fifteen minutes after the HMS _Exeter_ was lost, Mashiro cast her gaze around the bridge of the _Tokoro_ and saw the same look plastered on everyone's faces, even Kouko's. Cold, stoney acceptance that they would all eventually have their ship shot out from under them.

The way that the Kraken Fleet had destroyed the _Exeter_ probably didn't help matters. The 2nd most powerful member of their group destroyed almost effortlessly, it was terrifying to see. But, there was some good news, during the enemy's ruthless destruction of the _Exeter_ , it allowed them to put some distance between themselves and the enemy, they never moved out of range of those _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers, for periodic ranging salvos would churn the water violently every now and again. Still, everyone couldn't shake this feeling that eventually they would all be sunk, one by one; but the one question on everyone's minds was who would be next?

Turns out that they didn't have long to wait. A sharp canvas tearing shriek rent the air, it caused everyone to look up in fright as a salvo of shells from the _Zao_ 's roared in. They actually saw the massive 8in shells glinting in the sun as they bored in. Numerous splashes and multiple flashes suddenly shrouded the HMS _Encounter_ , as the spray, smoke, soot, and steam cleared it revealed a thoroughly _mangled_ destroyer. Flames were licking out of the ship amidships, a near complete wall of fire with thick black smoke billowing skyward, the stern was twisted and broken, the aft gun mounts completely gone, and her aft funnel lay across a davit. Crew members were running to and fro across the deck of the dying _E_ class destroyer, throwing anything into the water that would float for her boats and skippers had been smashed beyond recognition. Crew members were jumping into the water and swimming away, frantically trying to get away from the sinking ship.

"Good lord, they just don't know when to quit do they?" Mei asked in shock as the _Tokoro_ steamed past the sinking _Encounter_ at twenty-five knots. It hurt every member of the crew knowing that if they stopped to pick up survivors they would have been shelled into a sinking wreck rather effortlessly by those enemy Heavy Cruisers. "Damnit! I hate this, we can't stop to pick up survivors otherwise they will just plain decimate us!" Mashiro hissed as the shattered remains of HMS _Encounter_ capsized and began to sink stern first.

Time continued to pass as slow as molasses it seemed as they struggled to escape from the enemy. First the loss of HMS _Exeter_ and then the loss of HMS _Encounter_ it seemed to drive a spike directly into the morale of everyone onboard the remaining ships. Just when Mashiro thought it couldn't get any worse, twelve Aeroplanes of the second-type appeared, they swooped out of the skies in screaming power dives. There machine guns and cannons riddling the water and walking rounds right up to the ships where they slammed somewhat ineffectually into the hulls of various ships. Amid this, the distinct _thuds_ of the 5.25in, 4.7in, and 3in gunfire sounded through the air, causing menacing black puffs to appear in the sky, as well as heavy _pom-pom_ of the QF 2-pounder "Pom pom" filled the air, the _boom-boom_ of 40mm Bofors, sending shells out at a rather impressive rate, combined with the thundering bellow of 13mm, 12.7mm, and 7.62mm machine guns; sending tracers blazing into the sky.

The fighters ceased their strafing runs fortunately after one was simply ripped apart by the _Banckert_ , the 40mm shells responsible simply tearing the left wing and the entirety of the tail assembly off and sending the craft, completely engulfed in flames plunging into sea. With the thing nearly hitting the USS _Mahan_ as it did so. After that the craft clawed into the skies out of reach of anything but the 5.25s on _Prince of Wales_ , which promptly tried to shoot the planes down, but once again they proved to be moving far too quickly for the AA directors to track. The craft decided to wait for their bombers to arrive and for the Heavy Cruisers to finish them off.

Sure enough, roughly thirty minutes after the fighters stopped their strafing runs. The enemy bombers appeared, they calmly came in and then lined up their targets once that was done, they winged over and went into a screaming power dive. "Commence AA warfare!" Mashiro shouted as the sky above the ships quickly turned into maelstrom of fire and smoke as shells raced into the sky. Filling the sky with steel, yet the planes bored in with some taking direct hits and dropping out the sky bathed in flames.

Mashiro gazed at the three bombers that were diving on the _Tokoro_ , even as 12.7mm tracers streaked upward toward the enemy planes. She was trying to judge their drop point, it was her first time doing it, if she got it wrong then they would have a major problem. "Steady Mr. Cody, steady. Wait, NOW! AHEAD FLANK! HARD TO STARBOARD!" Mashiro bellowed suddenly as figured she got it.

Cody, grabbed the lee helm and slammed it to flank speed before throwing the wheel over. The stern of the _Tokoro_ bit down into the water and the light cruiser leaped forward and promptly turned hard. Moments later black objects detached from the enemy craft and the bombs whistled in. The craft pulled out of their screaming dives as the roar of .30 cals joined the fracas, the 'V' of the Kraken Fleet Flag emblazoned inside a dark red circle that stood out brilliantly on the wings of the craft as they pulled out of their dives. The bombs slammed into the water churning it as they blew up.

" _Captain, message from the_ Prince of Wales _. Make for the squall."_ Tsugumi said suddenly. Mashiro looked and sure enough the _Prince of Wales_ was making hard for a squall that had formed close to them. The _Pope_ , _Banckert_ , _Walker_ , and _Mahan_ were already sprinting for the squall, with the _Pope_ 's form soon becoming blurred as the destroyer dove into the squall at just over thirty one knots. Soon afterward the _Prince of Wales_ 's form was blurred as she entered the squall and then shortly afterward the _Tokoro_ entered the squall.

Rain came down in sheets drenching the deck, causing water to begin to pool in some areas of the bridge. The seas were grew slightly rough, causing the ship to roll the water. Occasionally lightning flashed and thunder boomed, illuminating the sky. Still it was _refreshing_ , for they had reprieve even if it was brief because their enemy was relentless and would like to see nothing more than their ships sitting on the bottom. Nevertheless they remained inside the safety of the squall as long as possible before exiting, but as they exited they got a horrifically nasty surprise.

" _Captain, we're exiting the squall!"_ Noma said as the _Tokoro_ sailing alongside of the _Prince of Wales_ which had taken a few bomb hits during the air battle but nothing major began to exit the squall.

"Oh my God captain! The _Pope_! The _Pope_ is sinking! She's sinking!" Tama suddenly breathed in horror. Mashiro grabbed her binoculars and swept the sea around them frantically. When she spotted the _Pope_ , she saw that Tama was correct, the American _Clemson_ class destroyer USS _Pope_ DD-225 was going through her final agony. Her aft pilothouse had been flattened by enemy bombs, flames were visible aft, and as she watched, three more enemy bombers winged over and dove on the helpless destroyer. _Prince of Wales_ opened fire with her 5.25in guns that could bear, flak bursts erupted around the planes, one burst caused an enemy plane to seemingly explode into a flaming wreck, another burst ripped the entirety of the left wing off another, and the last one took a direct hit from _something_ and literally blew up. But the spotter planes were now overhead and the all too familiar canvas tearing shriek of 8in shells rent the air as the planes called in fire from the _Zao_ 's onto their carrion.

"She's done for. God-fucking-damnit! I hate running away from sailors who need help because if we stay it means our certain deaths." Mei snarled angrily.

That's when it became clear that someone had enough as well. For suddenly the TBS crackled and Matthew Reddy's voice came over the freq. " _Make for that squall at bearing 010! Ahead flank!"_ He barked sharply over the channel and then moments later, the _Walker_ , _Mahan_ , and _Banckert_ all heeled over and charged toward the squall that was looming on the horizon as fast as their engines could go. "Shit! Cody, bring us to compass bearing 010, all ahead flank!" Mashiro snapped as the three destroyers began to pull away.

"New course 010, ahead flank aye!" Cody said before bringing the _Tokoro_ to her new course and having the ship increase her speed dramatically. With no other choice, the _Prince of Wales_ turned as well, swerving over to follow. She advanced quickly going after the smaller ships to make sure that they don't do anything dumb. But considering that it seemed just about everyone was incoherent with pent up anger and rage at what they had been forced to do, they wouldn't have cared if they had to blast their way through a trio a _Fuji_ class Super Fast Battleships.

As they approached the new squall, Mashiro noted that it was _huge_. Soaring to at least fifty-five thousand feet into the sky, it's clouds were pitch black with green and blue lightning flashing and pulsing angrily inside it's form. Rapidly approaching this squall was another one, this one while it was nowhere near as impressive in terms of scope and size it was still impressive. It was from _this_ squall that a threat unlike any that had faced the survivors thus far appeared.

Four large and imposing destroyers of the unknown class from earlier appeared first, followed shortly by a _Chapayev_ class Light Cruiser, right behind the light cruiser came _two_ absolutely _huge_ capital ships.

"Holy _fuck_." Kirkland breathed in awe, then crossing herself. "Pardon my French." she muttered right afterward. But her gaze was clearly on the Capital ships, they plowed through the water with grace of a juggernaut, for it became clear that the bull had just entered the ring. Mashiro gazed through her binoculars and her face fell as she realized just _what_ they were up against. "That gentlemen is a _Fuji_ class Super Fast Battleship _and_ a _Zipang_ class Battlecruiser. We all know what the _Fuji_ class is capable of, but the _Zipang_ class is for all intents and purposes a _Tosa_ class but her hull has been lengthened, with an _Amagi_ class style funnel, she has a _Yamato_ class style Pagoda mast, and is armed with ten 25cm/55 caliber guns in five twin twos. Her secondary battery is composed of twenty 14cm/50 caliber naval guns and twelve dual purpose 12cm/45 caliber guns in single gun mounts." Mashiro said grimly.

"Well holy fucking shit! Guess the enemy doesn't really want us to get away now do they?" Kirkland snarled.

Before Mashiro could even reply, a very familiar thundering _crash_ rolled across the water and the _Prince of Wales_ 's forward guns fired. Hurling 1,500 pound shells down range, her Type 284M radar helping with the aiming, six shells dropped out of the sky throwing massive columns of black dyed water skyward, the light cruiser slogged out of spray and it was revealed that two shells had hit. The number two turret was _completely_ unrecognizable and the ship was very clearly losing speed. Which meant that she was crippled and thus an easily target. The _Prince of Wales_ 's forward guns finished reloading and fired again, this time the salvo was _far_ more accurate, four shells impaling the light cruiser amid two massive splashes. One shell found its way into the forward magazine and exploded, utterly erasing the ship the existence.

Even as _Prince of Wale_ 's main battery began to elevate a bit more, the destroyers heeled over and sprinted off to engage the enemy destroyers. "Shit, Cody, follow the _Banckert_ , _Mahan_ , and _Walker_. They'll need help, also try and make sure we aren't hit by that battleship or that Battlecruiser." Mashiro ordered sharply.

"Aye, aye ma'am!" Cody replied before spinning the wheel and increasing the lee helm to flank speed. The _Tokoro_ bounded forward in an effort to help out with the destroyers.

Very quickly the area between the _Prince of Wales_ , the _Fuji_ and the _Zipang_ became filled with chaos as the destroyers maneuvered and traded blows. 6in, 5in, 4.7in, and 4in shells streaked downrange toward each other. While from the heavy capitals, shells screamed downrange seemingly tearing the sky apart with their screams. While from the _Prince of Wales_ her 5.25in guns tried to provide what fire support that they could but it wasn't much.

The _Tokoro_ shuddered violently as a salvo of 5in rounds tore into the light cruiser. Mashiro was grateful that they didn't have any torpedoes onboard, or they would have had the torpedo mounts blow up about four times over. But as Mashiro gazed at the ship they were engaging, she could tell that the heavier guns of the _Tokoro_ were tearing the crap out of the enemy destroyer they'd targeted. Out of its four turrets, one was jammed, another had its traverse damaged, another had been outright blown up, but the last one was in perfect working order. It was that fourth turret that was giving them the most trouble as it was consistently landing hits on them, but the _Tokoro_ clearly had her opponent on the ropes. Another six round salvo barked out from her guns and slammed into the enemy destroyer, an explosions of smoke, steam, soot, flames, and sparks erupted from the base of the aft funnel and the ship slowed considerably several moments later _Tokoro_ delivered the Coup de grace, a salvo of 6in shells roared out of the barrels of the main battery, the shells arched through the air and hit the forward torpedo mount. The resulting detonation nearly cracked the destroyer in half, flames promptly engulfed the entire destroyer amidships and the thing slowed to a halt and promptly took on a heavy list.

With the enemy destroyer taken care off, Mashiro turned her gaze away from it. What she saw surprised her greatly, the _Walker_ and _Mahan_ had both already dispatched their destroyers and were now charging the _Zipang_ class Battlecruiser which was now somewhat bow on toward the destroyers and was firing its secondary battery at the Americans, who were being forced to 'dance' to avoid getting clobbered by the 14cm shells. The _Banckert_ had also dispatched her foe but was clearly heavily damaged and was making for the safety of the _Prince of Wales_.

Mashiro grabbed the talker for the TBS and engaged it. " _Prince of Wales, Tokoro._ I have an idea for knocking that _Fuji_ class out." She said briskly, the plan that she was formulating in her head was borderline outrageous but it just might work.

"Prince of Wales _here. What's your plan_ Tokoro _?"_ Sophie asked.

"We will go on a mock torpedo attack, if possible we could have the _Banckert_ accompany us. While that _Fuji_ class is busy trying to deal with us, you get as close as you can and blast that fucker back to the stone age." Mashiro said bluntly.

"Language captain." Kirkland said with a laugh.

"Oi, you shut up." Cody quipped cheekily.

" _You realize how badly that could go Captain Munetani?"_ Sophie replied sounding shocked at the idea that Mashiro was proposing.

"Yes, I realize that. But it's our best bet for survival, particularly considering that those _Zao_ class ships will get bored sooner or later and attack." Mashiro replied grimly.

" _Understood. You got the go ahead."_ Sophie replied solemnly.

"Affirmative, _Prince of Wales_." Mashiro said before going to the speaking tube for the comms shack. "Tsugumi, signal the _Banckert_ and explain the basics of my idea to deal with that _Fuji_ class." Mashiro ordered sharply.

" _Yes Captain."_ Tsugumi replied quickly.

Mashiro found herself realizing just how crazy this plan was, if anything went wrong. It would go very badly wrong very quickly and would likely involve the _Tokoro_ eating a 20in APC round, one that would hopefully overpenetrate and do 'minimal' damage. Of course, this train of thought didn't even begin to go into just how badly this could go.

The storm that Mashiro had seen earlier was now starting to lash at them, the wind in the wires made a tattletale sound, and a wave broke over the railing, lightning was starting to flash and thunder rolling, rain began pelt the ships constantly. The flashes of artillery, the shrieks of shells, and the enormous plumes of water and thundering splashes created by impacting shells further added to the general chaos and made the battle seem even more chaotic.

"Tama, fire a salvo of illumination shells, we can't see where we are going in this muck." Mashiro ordered quickly. Struggling to see out of the heavy rain and mist that making visibility close to zero.

"Aye" Tama said before turning to the speaking tube and giving the proper instructions. The 6in guns went to maximum elevation and barked out a ragged salvo, brilliant flares erupted in the air. Bathing the area rather effectively in ghostly blue light.

" _Banckert_ , you ready?" Mashiro asked over the TBS.

" _Affirmative_ Tokoro _, we are ready to get this show rolling. Plus we actually have torpedoes. If you want us too, we can put those into that_ Fuji _class, just to give the_ Prince of Wales _more of a chance to close in and obliterate that fucker Steel Ocean style."_ The captain of the _Banckert_ replied stiffly.

"I like the sound of that _Banckert_ , that would really make for one hell of a distraction. We don't have any torpedoes of our own, but the enemy doesn't know that." Mashiro replied with a note of satisfaction.

" _Ten-four; let's gank this fucker."_ The CO of the _Banckert_ replied.

"Cody, bring us to compass bearing 334, all ahead flank. Mei, prepare for torpedo warfare!" Mashiro ordered calmly as the bells rangs up Ahead Flank and the blower began to roar and the stern bit into the water and shot forth like she had been fired out of a cannon.

"Captain, we don't have any torpedoes and only one of our mounts is still intact." Mei replied.

"I know that but _they_ don't." Mashiro replied sharply.

"Understood! Prepare for torpedo warfare!" Mei said finally understanding what her captain was getting at.

Ahead of them was their quarry, some 75,500 tons plus of Super Battleship. A literal mountain of guns and heavy armor, a ship designed to go nose-to-nose with nearly anything afloat and win. And they were charging right at it with the intention to distract it to allow _Prince of Wales_ to get close enough to hammer it. "Alright let's get that bastard's attention. Noma, what bearing is the _Fuji_ on?" Mashiro asked as the _Tokoro_ bounded forward in the general direction of the _Fuji_ class.

" _It's on bearing 045, moving approximately fifteen knots."_ Noma replied through the speaking tube tersely.

"Roger; Tama, target that monster, bearing 045. Use HE." Mashiro ordered sharply and Tama nodded before giving out orders to the gunnery team. The 6in guns swung out toward the _Fuji_ 's general direction and opened fire with ragged salvoes, shells were hurled out of the barrels and screamed through air throughout their flight, barely audible over the fracas of the battle and the storm that was all around them. The shells splashed across the armor of the enemy battleship in bright fireballs, dealing no damage but Mashiro hoped that it would get their attention.

Sure enough a searchlight suddenly flared into existence, followed by another, and then four more. They speared through the rain and surf, illuminating whatever their gaze was on. "Alright, got their attention." Mashiro muttered under her breath before looking at Tama. "Keep up the barrage, we need to keep their attention on us." She said briskly.

Tama nodded before relaying the instructions, the 6in guns continued their spirited barrage. Shells flew through the air and continued to splash across the armor of the enemy ship, dealing minimal damage. Then suddenly, nearly everyone was blinded when a fifth light suddenly speared to life and illuminated the _Tokoro_ right in the bridge. "Oh shit!" Mei whispered as suddenly, bright flashes strobbed along the flank of the enemy battleship and splashes erupted around the _Tokoro_ as the secondary battery began to blaze away at the light cruiser.

It didn't take long for the _Tokoro_ to start shuddering and shaking in response to hits as shells ripped into the light cruiser. " _Banckert_ , you in position?" Mashiro asked frantically into the talker for the TBS as the _Tokoro_ maneuvered wildly, in a desperate attempt to evade the enemy fire but there was so much, some of it was bound to hit. " _Yes we are in position to hit this bastard with torpedoes!"_ The captain of the _Banckert_ replied quickly.

"Then hit them!" Mashiro barked sharply as suddenly another voice came over the TBS. "Tokoro _, this is_ Prince of Wales _. Be advised, the enemy super battleship has appeared to have lost interest in us or are having trouble acquiring us. They may start slinging shells from there main battery your way."_ Sophie said in alarm.

"Roger, _Prince of Wales_. We'll keep on our toes about that." Mashiro replied quickly. Then as if to punctuate that enormous fireballs exploded into being along the horizon, brilliantly illuminating and revealing for several long moments the distinctive outline of a _Fuji_ class Super Fast Battleship. Then an enormous rattling roar filled the air and then eight enormous plumes bracketed the _Tokoro_ , tossing her around rather effortlessly as 20in APC rounds, each weighing just over two tons with a seventy pound bursting charge, dropped right out of the sky all around the light cruiser.

"Cody, commence evasive maneuvers. But try and keep us in position so we can keep the entirety of the main battery in play." Mashiro ordered sharply.

"Yes ma'am!" Cody said before beginning an evasive course, all the while 6in and 5in shells landed all round the Cruiser, causing her rock to violently. Yet it was working, they had managed to gain the complete and undivided attention of the enemy warship.

" _Captain! Signal from the_ Banckert _, they report torpedoes away!"_ Tsugumi replied tersely of all sudden, amid the piercing scream of 20in shells that roared toward the _Tokoro_.

That's when a bright yellow-red flash erupted somewhere in the gloom. "What the hell was that?" Kouko asked surprised at the appearance of the fireball as it quickly dissipated from view.

"No idea Kouko, no idea." Kirkland replied as the _Tokoro_ shook like a gong as several 5in rounds impacted the ship with tremendous _whams_! "How are we looking in terms of damage, Kouko?" Mashiro asked amid the thundering rumble of the _Tokoro_ 's 6in guns, the shriek and splash of incoming shells, and the bone-rattling _crumps_ of hits.

"Pretty good captain, we got some flooding but the pumps are staying ahead and it's probably from water slapping into the numerous holes that we have, and we have a ton of those, but no major damage sustained so far. But that's likely to change considering what is shooting at us." Kouko said briskly, shaking her head as the _Tokoro_ shuddered from another set of eight 20in rounds plunging into the sea all around the ship.

Several thundering muffled _booms_ tore through the air. Mashiro grabbed the talker for the TBS. " _Banckert_ this is _Tokoro_. Did your torpedoes just hit the _Fuji_ class?" Mashiro asked over the radio.

" _Affirmative! Three hits out of eight, which is impressive considering how bad the sea state is!"_ The captain of _Banckert_ replied sounding absolute giddy with the news that several torpedoes had actually succeeded in striking the ship. Which considering how rough the seas were it was a miracle.

A screaming roar suddenly filled Mashiro's ears before she could formulate a response to the message from the _Banckert_. Her eyes widened in alarm as her brain realized what was coming at them. She went to the ship wide speaking tube and shouted as loud as she could. "ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Before promptly following her own advice and grabbing hold of the speaking tube and bracing herself. She glanced around the bridge and saw that everyone else was hanging on for dear life.

Moments later, six enormous plumes of water erupted around _Tokoro_ , at the same time the ship, heaved violently under her feet and a pair of absolutely _titanic_ explosions rocked the light cruiser. Despite having braced herself for impact, Mashiro along with nearly everyone else was violently thrown to the deck. A sheet of flame erupted from the _Tokoro_ aft, the ship seemingly groaned in agony as she began to slow down and began to struggle to power through the waves.

"DAMAGE REPORT!" Mashiro bellowed as loud as she could in order to be heard over the immense ringing that seemed to surround her as she scrambled to her feet. The bridge was in shambles, with numerous conduits and piping dangling from the ceiling, the white interior lights had all been blown out and the emergency lighting had come on which was bathing the bridge in dull red light, and every single piece of glass that had been replaced that hadn't already been blown in had shattered spectacularly.

"It's bad Captain, really bad." Kouko announced grimly.

"How bad?" Mashiro replied, although something told her that she didn't want to know.

As if on cue, Maron's voice came through the speaking tube. " _Captain, we've lost the entirety of the aft boiler room. We've lost boilers five through eight! The steering engine is damaged to some degree! From the sounds of it down here, the force draft blower is damaged! And the uptake box for boilers one through four has been damaged, we have exhaust gases in the forward boiler room!"_ Maron replied frantically, coughing slightly, but judging by the wheeze in her voice, she had been completely winded by that hit.

"How long till we can get the aft boiler room back?" Mashiro replied urgently, knowing that since they were down four boilers that speed and probably to a degree maneuverability would likely suffer.

" _Captain, the aft boiler room wasn't knocked out of action. It's completely_ gone _the shell that knocked it out crashed into a boiler and exploded, we're lucky that it didn't break the ship's goddamned back!"_ Maron replied hotly.

"Fuck!" Mashiro hissed, realizing that they had actually gotten lucky, had they taken that boiler room penetration just a little differently then well that would have been bad.

"Turret three and a portion of the aft deckhouse has been completely destroyed. The turret blowing up also did something to the rangefinder!" Tama shouted, but it was clear she had been rattled. Giving more bad news as well to the captain.

"Maron, don the masks that are down there! If there are exhaust gases in the forward boiler room; it's very much possible that some can make their way into the main control room where you are! The last thing we need is a dead engineering team!" Mashiro replied quickly, beginning to realize just how badly _two_ shells had fucked the _Tokoro_ up. But she also didn't Maron and her team to die from Carbon Dioxide or Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

" _Understood!"_ Maron replied quickly.

"Cody, begin as complex of a series of evasive maneuvers as you can without getting us sunk. Remember we only have four boilers and we have a damaged blower." Mashiro said bluntly, still amazed by how much damage just two direct hits had done to the _Tokoro_.

"Yes ma'am! I'll try my best, but remember I barely have any experience helming the _Tokoro_ , so I don't know what will be and what will not be doable." Cody replied as he threw the wheel over hard and with a sluggish groan the _Tokoro_ answered. "The maneuverability is definitely off, Chief Engineer Yanagiwara is right about the damaged steering engine, it doesn't seem that bad but that could change if we take any more hard knocks aft." He said as lowered their speed by disengaging from ahead flank to ahead standard. "That should buy us some time in order to think of a new plan. There fire control computers will have to work out a new solution since we are changing course drastically and lowering our speed." Cody explained as he had the _Tokoro_ disengage from the enemy.

"That's good news, any reprieve at the moment is a good reprieve. I don't know how many more hits like that we can take before we're done in." Mashiro said, before looking for Kirkland, but she had already left. Probably to go and help with damage control efforts, which all things considered wasn't surprising, the last time they had taken a hit like that; well it had been during her time on the _Harekaze_ when they had tangled with the _Musashi_ for the final time.

Splashes continued to erupt all around them, but the fire became desultory as the _Tokoro_ disengaged, it helped that Cody was very good at what he was doing. "Cody? Why are you going after their splashes?" Mashiro asked in wonderment as the British Helmsman continued to guide the Light Cruiser toward the shells splashes that had landed long. "It's a tactic that's known as 'Chasing splashes' the logic behind it is that it's a near statistical impossibility that the enemy will succeed in hitting the same place twice. Destroyers and to a degree Light Cruisers can use it to generally great success. Although it's usually used to _engage_ battleships not _runaway_ from battleships." Cody replied as the fire continued to slack off.

That is until their was enormous heaving detonation, a brilliant fireball erupted directly aft of the bridge as a 5in Common round impaled the base of the tripod mast. Steel rent and screamed, with violent _hs-snaps_ , steel support cables snapped and flung around wildly with enough force behind them to tear a man in half if it hit any poor unfortunate soul, and most alarmingly there was a high-pitched terrified sounding scream from Noma as a large section of the main mast containing the crow's nest went crashing into the rough seas.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" Mashiro yelled into the ship wide speaking tube. Which was soon repeated by Tsugumi over the all hands frequency, thus alerting both the _Banckert_ and the _Prince of Wales_ to the fact that someone had gone overboard on the _Tokoro_.

Moments later, another terrifying _bang_ rocked the _Tokoro_ violently. More steel screamed in protest as it violently ripped apart as a 6in Common round buried itself into the twisted remains of turret four and exploded. Four massive fireballs erupted along the horizon, illuminating the ship that was firing, that _Fuji_ class. It's massive pagoda mast was still moving forward at an arduous pace, despite the fact that three torpedoes had slammed into her.

An ear-piercing screech tore through the air as if some sort of demonic banshee was wailing in despair. The shells themselves actually punching visible paths through the sleeting rain as they glowed a fiery orange. They had caught the _Tokoro_ at a bad time, she was locked in a hard turn to port, helmsman Cody was frantically throwing the wheel over to starboard, but with the _Tokoro_ being down half her boilers, the other four boilers handicapped with a damaged force draft blower, plus being down a turbine, and having a damaged steering engine. It all boiled down to one thing, the _Tokoro_ 's speed and agility was gone and thus she had no way to dodge the shells.

Five massive columns of water burst forth from the surface of the water around the _Tokoro_ , while three massive 20in shells slammed into the _Tokoro_. The entire ship lurched and then shuddered as if struck by an earthquake that sent everybody who wasn't sitting -minus Kaburagi who was sitting in her chair in sickbay- tumbling to the deck with yelps and surprised cries, while an enormous plume of fire and smoke exploded upward from the deck of the _Yūbari_ class light cruiser, burning oil blew itself all over the ship and several fires quickly took hold on the ship, while steam, soot, sparks, and smoke seemingly enshrouded the _Tokoro_ amidships.

"DAMAGE REPORT!" Mashiro shouted as she pulled herself to her feet, clutching her side. It actually felt like several of her ribs were broken, which considering the tumble she'd just taken it wouldn't surprise her.

"It's bad Captain, real bad. I can tell just by listening to the sounds of the hull, they got us real good that time." Cody whispered, as the hull groaned and the ship began to slow as if her legs had been ripped out from under her.

But despite Mashiro having basically yelled into the ship wide speaking tube was surprised when Maron didn't respond, she was about to use the engineering speaking tube, when suddenly, Maron trudged up onto the bridge, she was utterly soaked and her hands were covered in grime. "Maron! Why are you up here? Couldn't you have just given the damage report from engineering?" Mashiro said in shock.

"Not this word, Captain. Not this." She whispered sadly.

"Why's that?!" Mashiro asked completely stumped and still surprised at Maron's sudden appearance.

"We're gonna loose the ship, skipper. Those last three hits, they did her in. One shell all but annihilated the forward boiler room, we only got one working boiler left, another one of those damn shells blew a turbine to pieces, the last shell blew the bottom out of the ship and broke her back, plus you don't even _want to know_ what those 20-inchers did to us below decks; but were sinking the pumps simply can't stay ahead of the flooding and in these seas, with the damage she's suffered, it's downright impossible to keep her afloat." Maron said glumly, her voice filled with despair. Dead silence went through the bridge as those words sank in. They had been uttered quietly but they carried the weight of a bellowed cluster F bomb.

"How long does she have?" Mashiro asked quickly, saddened and horrified that the _Tokoro_ was actually sinking.

"Our remaining boiler has about five minutes left in it, maybe seven or eight if we push it. But once we lose that, we'll lose steam pressure and steam is required to run the main pumps because they are powered by electricity that's generated by the turbines, even with the diesel-powered auxiliary pumps we got running she won't stay afloat, after we lose that boiler she's gonna go under pretty fast; maybe twenty minutes after we lose the boiler she'll be gone forever." Maron replied sounding defeated, this was the second time her ship was going to sink.

"Do what you can to buy us as much time as you can Maron. But the moment that boiler goes out, I want you and your entire team on deck ready to abandon ship." Mashiro ordered.

Maron nodded before leaving. While Mashiro went to the ship wide speaking tube and took a deep breath. She then spoke the words that she never thought she would have to speak. "All hands abandon ship! All hands abandon ship! I repeat all hands abandon ship! All hands abandon ship! Don survival suits and get off the _Tokoro_ right this goddamned instant!" She said sharply and crisply.

It could be described as chaos erupting, everyone scrambled to don life jackets and then get to the side of the ship in order to get off, the life rafts that weren't torn up were put in the water while the only available launch that wasn't completely smashed the Rigid Buoyant Boat was loaded survivors and also put in the water. Mashiro walked slowly to the Captain's chair and took a seat in it; she planned on abandoning the _Tokoro_ , but she intended to be the absolute last person off the dying ship. She grabbed the talker for the TBS and keyed the talker. " _Prince of Wales_ , _Banckert_ , _Mahan_ , and _Walker_ ; if you can hear this transmission, this is the _Tokoro_. Multiple crippling hits taken, sinking, we're abandoning ship." She said bluntly.

" _This is_ Prince of Wales _, roger that_ Tokoro _. We acknowledge your transmission."_ Sophie replied quickly, sounding somewhat angry. The _Tokoro_ groaned beneath Mashiro's feet, steel shuddered and quivered as the ship began to settle and take on a distinct list to port. She managed to tune out the sounds of battle and heard Kirkland she'd assumed yelling "Go! Go! Go! Into the water! Go!" among the sounds of people jumping into the water and swimming away from the _Tokoro_ as she sank.

But as she watched, the battle around them went to hell. The _Prince of Wales_ , which had been charging the _Fuji_ class in order to get close enough in order to have a chance of penetrating the thing, took a gigantic hit, burning fuel oil exploded up from below decks and sloshed across the decking, smoke, steam, soot, flames, began to pour from several deep wounds in the Fast Battleship and she slowed to a crawl almost instantly. Her main battery lashed out angrily at the _Fuji_ class Super Fast Battleship, but the shells simply bounced off the armor of the warship. Meanwhile, the four _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers began to close in for an easy kill, their 8in guns firing constantly at the British Fast Battleship as they approached.

That's when suddenly, the short-range marine radio that was commonly used for TBS purposes because it had a TBS frequency crackled and something began to play over the channel. A distinctive guitar riff, the same notes playing over and over again, but as it continued drums began to get in on the act. Then the vocals began, singing with a passion. But it also had this repetition in it. " _Thunder!"_

Just as the song got to the line " _Sound of the drums,"_ began to play an all too familiar rattling whistle rent the air. Then hurtling out of the sky came _eight_ blazing fiery tracers barreling in like angry dogs from the very depths of hell came up to attack their enemy. Just as the shells, which judging by the sound were 16s and not 10s, 15s, or 20s slammed into the _Fuji_ the song went into a thundering chorus of " _You've been Thunderstruck!"_ These shells did monumental damage, unlike the 15s, 6s, and 4.7s of the remaining Malay Barrier Defense Command Ships these shells didn't bounce, they tore through the thick armor plate like paper, burrowing deeply into the ship before exploding, at least one shell found a magazine for even as burning fuel oil was blown out from several monstrous wounds, pieces of steel was sent flying and smoke, steam, and soot roared out and enshrouded the ship, the forward part of the thing literally ripped itself apart in an enormous and cataclysmic detonation which hurled a gunhouse clean out of it's barbette and flung it some fifty meters into the air, the remains of the ship began to settle and roll rapidly, with more explosions tearing the ship to pieces as ready lockers cooked off with stunning force, with a thundering _whomp_ , boilers exploded as the lukewarm sea water came into contact with scalding hot steel, which further tore the ship apart. Within a span of just over three minutes, a ship class that the Malay Barrier Defense Command had only succeeded in sinking by having a _capital ship_ ram the sonofabitch had been completely _annihilated_ by one salvo of just eight rounds from an unknown warship.

"Captain, it's time for you to leave the ship." Kirkland said suddenly. Sighing Mashiro stood up and walked to the hatchway, as she did so; the let her fingers caress the ship's wheel one last time. She then stepped onto the deck and accepted the folded up inflatable survival suit that Kirkland offered her, she quickly got into the thing, without the need to remove her shoes or armor. "You go first, Boats." Mashiro said quickly and Kirkland nodded before she leaped over the side. A second later, Mashiro, the last person aboard the ship, leaped off the deck of the dying _Tokoro_. She plunged into the water and began to swim as fast as she could in order to put as much distance between herself and the rapidly sinking _Yūbari_ class Light Cruiser. Steel was groaning and rending as the ship seemingly let out a mournful whooshing noise as the air inside her hull began to rapidly escape.

The _Tokoro_ 's RBB swung by, Cody was helming the thing. "Got room for two more! Come on, get them aboard!" He shouted, several of the occupants helped both Mashiro and Kirkland into the boat. It was rather crowded with ten people sitting in the boat itself, plus Cody helming the thing. Mashiro looked around and saw the vast majority of the crew, as well as Isoroku, Tamonmaru, as well as the _Jupiter_ 's mascot an Irish Water Spaniel named Merlin were present. But she also noted that their were a few faces that were missing.

Suddenly more shrieks tore through the air, and numerous splashes began to bracket the _Zao_ 's which promptly began to maneuver wildly. Then another massive salvo of eight enormous shells dropped out of the sky, these rounds just like the ones that had totally destroyed the _Fuji_ class when they hit, by God did they hit. Five hit and they effortlessly crunched through the relatively decent belt and deck armor and then they exploded. Burning fuel oil erupted from below decks, a sheet of flame exploded upward from the ship forward near the forward gun turrets, while steam, smoke, sparks, and soot erupted from gashes in the ship and from both funnels.

"Holy shit!" Mei exclaimed, amazed that whoever was shooting and with just two salvoes had blown a Super Fast Battleship clean out of the water and then had simply mauled a _Zao_ class fatally from the looks of it, as the crew was beginning to abandon ship.

The three remaining _Zao_ 's suddenly opened fire, but it wasn't at the _Prince of Wales_ ; which to the great relief of all, suddenly showed signs that her engines hadn't been totally destroyed, for a thick grey plume of oil smoke burst forth from her aft funnel and the ship began to limp forward. It was clear that the _King George V_ class Fast Battleship was crippled, but she would be damned it seemed if she sank here. So the Battleship while lamed began to pick up speed slowly, thick torrents of water poured from the ship's sides as her pumps engaged and she moved forward.

Another salvo of eight shells screamed in and caught one of the _Zao_ 's in a tight bracket, burning oil erupted from below decks while smoke, steam, soot, and flames exploded outward from the base of the forward funnel. The ship lost speed almost instantly and promptly turned away, retreating as fast as it's battered engines could carry it.

"She's sinking! The ship's sinking!" Someone yelled, Mashiro whipped her head around and sure enough, the _Tokoro_ was sinking. Her bow was high in the air and the ship was starting to roll, steel and metal was groaning in sympathy. The ship was clearly descending rather rapidly into the depths of the ocean. A long sad mournful _whoosh_ escaped the ship's broken hull as she sank, as if the ship was sighing and thus accepting her fate.

Mashiro did the first thing that came to mind, she saluted the sinking wreck of a ship. The _Tokoro_ had brought them through so much was finally disappearing into the depths of ocean, never to be seen again without the aid of submersibles. The _Tokoro_ , was gone.

Then, as if God decided that the crew of the _Tokoro_ needed cheering up after that. Fiery contrails at least two dozen suddenly cut through the storm, the CIWS and the AA weapons on the two remaining combat capable _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers opened fire; tracers slashed through the air and flak erupted to life, while flares and chaff exploded out of the dispensers on the ships. The missiles bored in, taking evasive maneuvers to avoid the counterfire, some were shot down but there was simply too many missiles. Both ships took multiple hits from the LRASMs with their large 1000-pound semi-armor-piercing warhead and were seemingly ripped apart as steam, burning fuel oil, smoke, soot, piece of steel, and what appeared to be pieces of flaming wood was hurled all over the place.

The remaining enemy destroyers, seemingly blanched at the sheer _ease_ that something had destroyed a _Fuji_ class Super Fast Battleship and four _Zao_ class Heavy Cruisers; right afterward they began to retreat as quick as they could, but that was denied; for _more missiles_ suddenly appeared cutting blazing contrails through the sky as they arched down from the Heavens and easily evading the pitiful amount of flak the destroyers put up and slammed into the unknown class of destroyers and they seemingly disintegrated under the ruthless hammer blow of multiple 1000-pound warheads impacting them; bright fireballs marked the end of the majority of the destroyers, except for two that had somehow survived likely through a large amount of luck those two ships promptly poured on the speed and fled from the battle area. The 2nd Battle of the Java Sea was over at long last.

The squalls passed shortly afterward and as the sun began shining on them again as the squalls moved on. Mashiro and a few others noticed that the _Zipang_ class Battlecruiser, the USS _Walker_ , and the USS _Mahan_ were missing. The passing of the storm also revealed just how battered the HNLMS _Banckert_ and HMS _Prince of Wales_ were.

The _Banckert_ was missing her aft funnel, aft mast, and number four gun, the ship just behind where the aft funnel would have been was heavily fire-blackened meaning that they must have had one hell of a fire onboard, and the hull, pilothouse, and forward funnel had numerous holes of varying sizes littering it. The ship was had a noticeable list by the head, but the ship appeared to be in no danger of sinking at least, not on the outside. Judging by the way she was moving she was likely down a shaft as well, which meant that she would likely be one hell of a handful to keep straight due to uneven thrust.

The _Prince of Wales_ was turning toward the flotsam field that the sinking of the _Tokoro_ had left behind on the surface. The British _King George V_ class Fast Battleship had been brutally savaged by the battle they had just gone through, gaping wounds adorned her superstructure and hull from where shells had scored penetrating hits, there were several massive gashes in the battleship's side, all of her 5.25in DP gun mounts on the side facing them had been knocked out, it also stood to reason that the vast majority of her anti-air weapons had been knocked out, her structure aft was heavily fire blackened, the aft funnel was literally half the height it used to be, the forward funnel and superstructure appeared to be riddled with holes, most impressively B turret had been knocked out the gunhouse appearing to have exploded upward with tremendous force with one of the gun barrels was snapped like a twig, and to top it all off she had a noticeable list to port. It was also clear that the _Prince of Wales_ was having trouble maneuvering meaning that either one or both of her steering engines and propeller shafts were either damaged or knocked out.

It was clear that both ships had been through ringer, but the most important aspect was that they were still afloat and powered. Even though water poured from their hulls thanks to numerous pumps, their blazing oil, air, and water fueled hearts still beat. Still, if they came under attack again it was very likely that both ships would be sunk with large loss of life.

However, there was some good news and that was the fact that they were still alive. The other bit was that the _Prince of Wales_ , probably because she had the crew of the USS _Stewart_ onboard had deployed her RBBs and were working hard to corral the life rafts from the _Tokoro_ , allowing some of the students to use the buddy line that their inflatable survival suits came with to connect the life rafts together.

"Neither one of those ships are in any sort of condition to attempt a rescue, not with how badly damaged they are. Plus, the last thing the medical staff on those ships need is more wounded to deal with." Someone on the RBB said looking at the two ships and how battered they were.

"That's true, still Captain I have to say; this is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into." someone from the _Tokoro_ deadpanned.

Mashiro laughed bitterly. "Yeah, you're right. This _is_ a fine mess that we've gotten ourselves into. But at least we're still alive." she replied and that earned a murmuring of agreement from everyone who heard her.

"Well, this damn depressing. I think we need to lighten up and always look on the bright side of life." Someone probably from the _Jupiter_ said.

What resulted from that statement was rather unexpected. Mashiro didn't know who started singing, but before she knew it everyone was singing some comedy-song that seemed to touch on classical British Stoicism and "stiff upper lip" mentality in the face of adversity. Personally Mashiro found the line "Worse things happen at sea, you know" being incredibly ironic, mainly because well the _Tokoro_ had been sunk and they were here waiting for rescue and the two ships that normally would be rescuing them were simply in no shape to do so.

* * *

Just under fifteen minutes later, it became clear that both the _Prince of Wales_ and _Banckert_ would be lucky to make it to Australia at all. Yet for some reason both ships refused to abandon the survivors of the _Tokoro_ , but then again Mashiro remembered that there had been those shells and missiles that had seemingly come out of nowhere. The missiles, well Antiship missiles tended to have of at least seventy kilometers plus, but those shells that meant whoever had effortlessly demolished the enemy ships had to be within forty kilometers so what was going on?

That is until the Marine VHF radio on the RBB crackled and the voice of the radioman onboard the _Prince of Wales_ came over the frequency. " _Heads-up boys and girls, if you look at bearing 348, you will see something that is a very welcome sight!"_ the kid whooped.

Mashiro managed to grab the set of binoculars that the RBB had come equipped with first. She then looked toward that bearing and what she saw was a sight she would never forget.

Sailing toward them was a collection of warships, true warships. Ships that even the smallest of their number could easily decimate Blumer Flotillas with _ease_. These ships had their hulls and superstructures painted storm grey, although she swore she could see white and black as well on those hulls. They moved with pride and purpose, in a way their presence seemed to say "Try and exist in my engagement envelope if you think you can!" it was more than a little intimidating actually.

There were four different classes of ship, three of the ships had the distinctive appearance of the _Kōngo_ class Guided Missile Destroyer, the Blumers had four of those ships in their force but they never operated this far from Japan, plus the shape of the superstructure and mainmast was a little different from the _Kōngo_ 's she'd seen before and the forward gun turret looked completely different from said ships.

The second class of ship was different in shape and there was four of them, it's hull was clearly based on the _Kōngo_ class type ship but it had some drastic differences. Of those differences, the superstructure of this second class of ship had the most and indeed the superstructure it seemed lacked right angles particularly where it met the deck, the angles that composed the ship were all either obtuse or acute angles, the gun mount forward had a fully enclosed cupola but judging by the way it was shaped it was designed to break-up radar waves, reducing the amount of reflection; also judging by the bow wave, the thing had an Atlantic bow. It gave the ship a stately sleek and futuristic look to it, but one that also belied its deadliness.

When it came to the third ship class out of the four, there was only two. But just from the shape of the hull, Mashiro _knew_ that those were Cruisers. At first glance, they looked like copies of the first class of ship, but there were major differences, the hull was a little wider, plus from the looks of it the thing had a sharp Atlantic bow, it's general appearance of its superstructure reminded her of the American _Freedom_ class Fast Frigates she had seen on occasion in pictures, the gun mount was clearly a stealth mount, it also had forward what appeared to be a CIWS mount of some kind.

But the fourth ship class? Even from the front, it's design made it clear what it was, a _battleship_ , a big one. It's wide hull powered through the waves with purpose, the distinct bow wave from the Atlantic bow further served it seemed to show that this ship meant _business_. It had moderate freeboard, roughly on par with the _Tosa_ class although the _Yamato_ or _Fuji_ class would probably be closer in terms of the amount of freeboard the thing had. The superstructure was very unique, for it appeared to based on the _Montana_ class but the bridge was certainly higher up on the superstructure and it also looked wider. However the thing that really caught and held her gaze was what it's forward gun battery arrangement looked like, it had two massive quadruple turrets forward and behind those two huge turrets was a considerably smaller dual turret and finally mounted just below the bridge with what was clearly a specifically built pedestal for it was a CIWS mount.

The last three ships that she could see were hanging at the very back of the formation appeared to be your atypical resupply ships. Still, the sight was an incredible one to see. Mashiro's jaw slackened in amazement, it quickly became clear who was responsible for destroying the enemy warships. It was this task force of ships that the USN had promised that had _finally_ arrived if albeit somewhat late.

* * *

A mere half an hour later, Mashiro found herself onboard the American Nuclear Powered Battleship USS _Enterprise_ ; the last 'All-gun' Battleship in the world that was still in active service in any navy or Blumer force. A massive fortress of armor and guns but deep within her armored hull it was as if she was a floating city, for there was a medical bay with fifty-eight beds and four ICU beds, a barber shop, a dentistry, a gym, and a recreational center.

Currently Mashiro was in sickbay, ignoring the dull throb in her side. She'd been correct in her summination when she had fallen, she broken two of her ribs pretty badly and cracked her left arm, she also had a number of lacerations on her arms and hands thanks to falling on the damned glass and splintered wood that had been all over the deck from previous hits. But she had been lucky all things considered, five hadn't made it off the _Tokoro_ alive, four had been from the _Jupiter_ and the last had been a crew member of the _Tokoro_ , Noma. If the crow's nest hitting the water hadn't killed her, the fact that the thing sank almost instantly afterward well that did kill her.

But at the moment, Mashiro was trying to wrap her head around what she had just heard. "So wait, you're telling me that while search and rescue efforts have found a lot of debris and a life-ring from the _Mahan_ you're telling me that they've found just about nothing from the _Walker_?" Mashiro asked a young Ensign who had handed her the paper, this mainly stemmed from the fact that the _Walker_ , _Mahan_ , and that _Zipang_ class had gotten separated from the main fight, and thus she had wanted to know the fate of the _Walker_ and _Mahan_ and their crews.

"Precisely, although judging by the amount of crud we've found in the water, it's safe to assume that the _Mahan_ suffered a direct hit to one of her magazines and blew up and sank with all hands. But the _Walker_ , it's as if that goddamned _Wickes_ class Destroyer has just vanished without a trace, it's some serious Bermuda Triangle and Devil's Sea levels of whacked. We'll likely never find her or her wreck if she sank." The ensign replied shaking his head.

"I see, thanks it's just. Well, say what you want about the Asiatic Flotilla; how they may be the most underfunded of the United States Junior Navy Academies but they have a fighting spirit that's nearly unmatched, far greater than anything I've ever seen. Not to mention, they grow on you, within the four and half months we were with them, fighting the juggernaut everyone onboard the _Tokoro_ learned more in those four and half months than we did during the entirety of our Freshman Year on the _Harekaze_." Mashiro explained thinking back to the events of the past four and half months, the friends that the crew of the _Tokoro_ had made and lost, the experiences that they had gone through and how it had molded them and shaped them, through the fires of combat.

"True, anyway. Take care." The ensign said before leaving and thus leaving Mashiro alone with her thoughts. That and thinking how the hell was she going to tell Akeno that the _Tokoro_ was sunk during the 2nd Battle of the Java Sea. She wasn't looking forward to _that_ conversation.

* * *

 _Enterprise_ and her Strike Group arrived in Darwin Australia to immense fanfare, fire boats and a small flotilla of ships of various types led by the USS _Nome_ , HMAS _Sydney_ , and HNLMS _Tromp_ , escorted the group in. In truth it was cause for celebration, because it hadn't taken long for videos to surface that showed the destruction of _Exeter_ , _Encounter_ , _Pope_ , _Java_ , _De Ruyter_ , and several other ships in High-Definition as well as the capture of survivors from those three ships.

The _Prince of Wales_ had been towed in by the _Enterprise_ and the _Banckert_ had managed to steam to Darwin unaided, but she'd been heavily damaged. Still the sight of seeing ships that had survived despite the fact that they were sporting damage, some of it incredible.

Still, the Malay Barrier Campaign was finally over with a terrible cost. The Kraken Fleet had won, worse they now had near total control over the Malay Barrier area. As it stood the _Cheyenne_ had bagged herself during the _Enterprise_ 's transit through the Malay Barrier five _Foxtrot_ class Submarines, three _Tango_ class Submarines, and a pair of unidentified Nuclear Powered Fast Attack Boats, while the _Las Vegas_ and her sister ship between them managed to bag two Heavy Cruisers, while the _Winston Churchill_ and _Zumwalt_ between them managed to bag four enemy destroyers and had given a crippled Heavy Cruiser it's last rites, and the _Enterprise_ herself and nailed the _Fuji_ class and a _Zao_ class plus crippled another one and basically caused the enemy in general to likely piss themselves in fear. Then again, there had only been eight times throughout history in the age of the USN's Super Battleship Strike Groups where they had been forced to open fire on enemy ships and every single time it hadn't gone well for the bad guys.

Still as Mashiro walked down the gangplank, it didn't take long for her to find Akeno who was looking a _lot_ better granted she had an orderly and was in a wheelchair but she _looked_ way more healthy than the pale, tired, and bedridden young girl she had seen last in Surabaya, Java several days ago. She sighed and braced herself for what was bound to be a tough conversation.

* * *

 **AN: Alright, that's the end of the chapter, folks! This story is rapidly reaching the end, the next one is going to be the epilogue and thus will be the end of the story. Still, it's been one hell of a ride hasn't it?**

 **Plus after doing this story, I've gotten some** _ **ideas**_ **for a possible Destroyermen Series/Haifuri crossover, who knows when I will put it into writing though.**

 **Anyway, I'll catch you at the next port of call folks!**


	14. Epilouge

**AN: Howdy folks, here it is the epilogue of the Haifuri: Gone Asiatic. This marks the end of this story; it's been fun that's for sure writing this story. Anyway, I hope to see you soon in the next chapter or story that I come up with.**

 **With that out of the way, let's set sail into the chapter and then off into the sunset!**

* * *

"I am not mad Shiro-chan." Akeno said softly, looking out to sea from the quay. Despite the fact she was wheelchair bound and would more than likely never regain her full mobility due to the extent of her injuries, her eyes still held a solid determination within them and allowed one a glimpse of a fighting spirit that wouldn't go down easily.

"W-what?" Mashiro replied stunned, she hadn't been expecting that at all. "But, I am responsible for the loss of the _Tokoro_ and several of her crew, including Noma!" Mashiro continued shocked, her voice filled with grief.

"That may be true, but when you saw that _Fuji_ class and it's entourage coming out of that squall. You didn't panic, something which I likely would have done, mainly because those monsters weigh in at something like 87,950 tons standard displacement and weigh over 95,000 tons full load. Plus, you thought of a plan that if it hadn't been for a stroke of bad luck would have either sunk or at best would have left that _Fuji_ class heavily damaged." Akeno replied still gazing out to sea, a solemn look in her eyes.

"But, this one case of bad luck hit me so hard. I got nearly everyone onboard the _Tokoro_ injured in someway, almost everyone had at least one broken bone and wounds that required stitches! The crew from the _Stewart_ who commandeered the _Prince of Wales_ 's RBB occasionally had to shoot at sharks for Christ sakes!" Mashiro said sourly, remembering how nearly everyone had an injury of some kind including her.

"I wouldn't argue that. But you fought your ship brilliantly and kept the crew calm and collected despite being in the face of far superior firepower. When you were forced to take up the mantle of captaincy, you didn't shy away from the unexpected challenge instead you faced it head-on and you didn't lose faith in yourself. I am proud of the job that you did out there." Akeno said, pride evident in her voice.

"I agree with that, Acting Captain Munetani commanded the _Tokoro_ excellently, particularly considering the circumstances that resulted in her assuming command. Injuries and those lost aside, I would certainly recommend her for her own ship next year." A voice said from behind them, Akeno and Mashiro turned and saw that Captain Sophie Saunders was limping up to them, she had a pair of crutches and her left leg was in a heavy looking cast.

"Sophie!" Akeno exclaimed in surprise. "What happened?!" she continued stunned.

Sophie smiled faintly. "Broke my goddamned leg when the _Prince of Wales_ was hit by seven goddamned shells from that bloody _Fuji_ class and before that salvo hit us, the _Prince of Wales_ had been hit three separate times by that thing. But the doc said that within a month and half I'll be back on my feet." she replied and then her face grew sad and she sighed deeply. " _Prince of Wales_ suffered incredible damage and a lot dead and wounded too. Out of a crew composed of seventy-five students in the Royal Navy Youth Academy Scapa Flow and thirty Royal Marine Youth Academy students, plus the crew of the _Stewart_. The _Prince of Wales_ lost twenty-two students from the Royal Navy Youth Academy, eleven Royal Marine Youth Academy students, and sixteen students from the _Stewart_. I heard that the HNLMS _Banckert_ out of a crew of one-hundred forty nine _Koninklijk Zee de Jeugdinstituut_ students that thirty-two didn't make it, which is a miracle in itself considering the battering that she took." Sophie said with a sigh.

Akeno sighed deeply as she wheeled herself away from the edge the quay and began heading toward the van that would take them back to hospital so they could spend the night with their comrades who were still recovering from their various wounds. "I am probably in for a solid roasting because of the loss of the _Tokoro_. Which is then probably going to be followed up by more than a couple of grillings from parents." Akeno said glumly as they got into the van.

"Why's that? I mean I get the thing from parents, I've already been on the receiving end of a couple of those so I know what it's like. But why would you be in for a roasting?" Sophie asked confused.

"The _Tokoro_ was the second ship in a row that I've been the captain of and the second ship in a row that's now been sunk. The first one was the _Harekaze_ which after looking at the damage it was decided to salvage her by refloating her and having her repaired. But the biggest pain is going to be raising her without damaging her even further. Plus they have to go through normal procedure which is launching an inquiry into the loss of the _Tokoro_." Akeno said shaking her head.

"I understand what you mean. That's normal procedure everywhere, whenever a ship is sunk and there are survivors from the command staff a board of inquiry is launched in order to figure out what went wrong." Sophie said, shaking her head.

"Captain if it's worth anything. I am going to try and take the fall for you, because _I_ was in command when the _Tokoro_ was lost. Which means that you wouldn't have the correct knowledge to answer any questions that relates to the loss of the _Tokoro_." Mashiro added, rubbing the back of her head somewhat awkwardly because she was buckled up.

Sophie suddenly turned grim. "When is Rin's funeral?" she asked sadly.

"Rin's funeral is going to occur within two weeks, it's been decided that she'll be buried at Yokosuka National Cemetery, the plot that's been selected was paid for by an anonymous donor as was the funeral. The plot itself is facing out to sea." Akeno said, sorrowfully.

"I probably won't be coming, but I can tell you that most likely everyone from the _Jupiter_ will also attend." Sophie said and Akeno nodded.

* * *

Two weeks later, it was a cool and sunny afternoon in Yokosuka a few white fluffy clouds dotted the sky. At Yokosuka National Cemetery, at a singular plot facing out to sea there was a large crowd of people, mourning the loss of a young and energetic soul. Akeno had truly been surprised when nearly everyone who was onboard the _Tokoro_ during that day had showed up. To say that it was heart-breakingly hard wasn't sufficient enough descriptor, Rin had been the first person to trust in her skills as a Captain.

So when Rin's parents had asked for her to say a few words, it had been surprising. But they had wished for her to do it. Still having to go up to that podium was tough. Fighting back tears, she started. "Good afternoon everyone and thank you for coming. When I first met Rin, she had a lack of bravery and whenever we got into bad situations would prefer to retreat. However as time went on, she found her niche and became braver and braver the longer we were together as a crew first on the _Harekaze_ , as well as over the summer between our Freshmen and Sophomore years, and then later on the _Tokoro_. She was also the first during our Freshman year to actually place her trust in my abilities as a captain. Plus was one of the nicest people that I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and someone who also made sure that she did her job to the best of her abilities. She knew she had her flaws and would even acknowledge them but that one trait is one of the best qualities to have and I admire that and I am glad to have known her." Akeno said taking a moment to wipe her eyes before stepping away from the podium and going back to her seat.

It had been hard being able to work up the courage to do this, which Akeno reflected was rather ironic considering who she'd done the eulogy for. She thought back to the Wake and Viewing that had occurred two days prior and how everyone that had attended swapped stories and reflected on her life. Akeno shook her head subtly and realized that Rin wouldn't want her to focus on her death and constantly think about what she could have done differently, if anything Rin would have wanted her to move on. But, regardless it made her wonder if she would ever recover from what she had seen.

The next part of funeral had Principal Munetani came up to the podium and she gave a few words about what she thought of Rin and how it had amazed her seeing how she had bloomed.

Then her parents came up to the podium and said their own eulogy. It was clear they were heartbroken and to be frank anyone would be.

After the funeral ended, Akeno remained at the Cemetery for a while longer than everyone else. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky a brilliant red-orange, in the distance a pod of dolphins broached from the surface of the water and expelled air from their lungs. And sailing into the sunset, Akeno would swear later that she saw a large Galleon with three masts, with a massive spread of canvas flying magnificently from her masts, the ship turned into the setting sun and just as it disappeared a rare natural phenomena happened, a bright green flash shot forth into the sky and then disappeared shortly their after. Of the Galleon, there was no sign, it had completely disappeared without a trace, which completely baffled Akeno. She shook her head and slowly wheeled herself towards awaiting van.

Still, she kept on wondering was what had befallen the USS _Walker_ DD-163? She had figured that with the amount of debris seen that it was more than likely that the USS _Mahan_ DD-102 had been sunk with all hands lost. Still it was highly unlikely that the _Walker_ had been sunk. It would likely become one of the great mysteries of this little incident, as far as she could figure, the _Walker_ and her crew had simply disappeared and were thus lost to the whims of the universe.

* * *

 _One Week Earlier_

 _Onboard the USS_ Walker _DD-163_

 _Off the coast of the island of Menjangan_

The blower of the USS _Walker_ DD-163 emitted a deep and restful sound, making it seem as if the _Wickes_ class Destroyer was resting. Which to be fair wasn't far from the truth, she and her sister _Mahan_ were waiting till nightfall so they could run the Bali Strait and then make a mad dash for Australia and safety. At least that was the plan, but in Matt's experience so far, just about every plan he and his ship and taken part in had ended in disaster, the Malay Barrier Defense Command had fought a brilliant struggle one whose fate had been decided from the start it had seemed.

Still, there was one thing right now that ever since that weird squall about a week ago had occurred. For one thing, unusual mists enshrouded both the _Mahan_ and _Walker_ not that he was complaining, anything to give them extra cover. Still now they were beginning to burn-off which sadly gave the CO a good view at the thoroughly mangled USS _Mahan_ DD-102, the destroyer looked better than she did after they had tangled with the _Zipang_ but she was still a mess. Her number four funnel was gone as was one of her davits which had been crushed by the stack when it had collapsed, her bridge was a twisted unrecognizable mess, her aft deckhouse and auxiliary conn was gone meaning she could only maneuver by pulling the steering cables that connected the steering engine to the rudder, her searchlight tower had also collapsed and crumpled one of the torpedo mounts.

Things were weird though, strange creatures similar to bipedal Komodo Dragons inhabited the island that they were near. Still a clanking sound got Matt's attention and as he watched from the bridge the anchor came clattering up, crew members were spraying the chain with a high-pressure spray of saltwater from a fire hose to rinse the chain as it clattered onto the deck and dragged the anchor into it's well. Still he stepped onto the starboard side bridge wing and peered at the enigmatic island, one of his crew members had been killed on that island, that had gotten him mad and it had resulted in him letting one of those lizards run right up to him and he shot it right in the eye with his M1911.

The motion of the ship got his attention, now that the anchor was off the bottom the wind was pushing the bow of the ship toward the island. "Starboard engine ahead slow." He said quietly, but nevertheless his voice carried to the helmsman who instantly took action.

"Starboard engine ahead slow, aye!" confirmed the helmsman of the watch Tony Scott, as the bells rang up starboard ahead slow. Matt sighed, the routine of ship handling soothed the tension that their predicament had. The anchor chain which had now finally come to rest in it's spot was now being given a more thorough rinsing by the deck-apes. Getting the more stubborn mud and weeds out of the chain. It was a procedure that Matt had witnessed many times, but now for the first time he truly appreciated the seamless efficiency that the deck-apes performed the duty. It showed that no matter the circumstances some things never changed, things like duty.

Suddenly the intercom buzzed, and the bridge talker, a mere first semester freshman named Fred Reynolds, opened the circuit to the crow's nest. Moments later the sharp Seattle accent of Alfred Vernon the current watch lookout came over the circuit.

" _Bridge! I have a surface target! Bearing three five zero! Range … damn! It's hard to tell, the mist is still pretty heavy in the strait. I make it six zero, double zero! Whatever the damn thing is, it's_ big!" Vernon's voice was high-pitched with excitement and wonder.

"Sound General Quarters!" Matt shouted. "Signal _Mahan_ to head for the rally point! We'll distract… whoever it is and catch up later tonight!"

Aft and below decks, in the aft fireroom, Spanky had just returned the coffeepot to its burner making sure that the thing was solidly secured and in place. He had was just about to take a sip of coffee when suddenly the distinctive _GONG! GONG! GONG!_ Of the General Quarters alarm rang, moments later the engine telegraph rang up **AHEAD FLANK** and all hell broke loose. The _Walker_ suddenly shot forward, nearly causing Spanky to fall, he dropped his coffee cup reaching to grab onto something. The cup hit the deck plating and shattered into a million pieces. The stern crouched down and the big screws bit into the water, at the sametime the blowers roared and raw fuel oil gushed into the stacks, which Spanky knew would create a large amount of grey smoke. While the mice and water tender worked furiously to stop water from reaching turbines. Isak swore as the coffeepot despite being properly secured came off of the burner in the coffee maker and fell to the deck were it promptly shattered and thus sending scalding hot liquid splashing across his legs. Men scampered about, sliding the loosened deck plates back into their proper positions as the ship picked up speed, but began settling back into a relatively normal and only slightly nerve wracking acceleration.

Spanky looked around at the aftermath of the chaos that had resulted from the sudden order to go to ahead flank and wiped his brow to clear the sweat away as he checked for blown gauges. "Bloody hell!" he muttered. "I guess the Skipper didn't take the hint when I asked him to take it easy!"

* * *

 **AN: Alright, that's the end of Haifuri: Gone Asiatic folks. Sorry if it's a little short, but I felt that I didn't really have many loose-hanging plot threads that needed to be tied up.**

 **The bit involving the** _ **Walker**_ **and** _ **Mahan**_ **was based on scene from the 1st Destroyermen Series Novel: Into The Storm when they first spotted a Lemurian Home.**

 **As for what Akeno saw, well if you're familiar with Pirates of the Caribbean, specifically Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End then you know what Akeno saw.**

 **Anyway, let's pull into dock at our final port of call! I'll catch you in the next story!**


End file.
